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There are many clarinet manuals out there, with a variety of prices and depth of knowledge. Some I find are so bound up with clarinet based jargon that they are virtually unreadable for your average beginner, and other books bend so much the other way as to be slightly condescending with respect to the perceived intelligence of the beginner clarinettist.
I have decided to use my website to collate my knowledge of clarinet playing, in easy to understand language and real live YouTube examples of my clarinet playing to emphasis my points. Even better, this manual is free, and you can't get many clarinet books at that price!
I possess an enormous amount of clarinet knowledge and a fluid writing style. I also possess a video camera, so that the budding clarinet student can refer to a live example at any time, as many times as they want, and that should make any teacher's/parent's life a hell of a lot easier.
This book will encompass all aspects of clarinet playing, from the very first lesson to college education, first focussing on technical aspects of playing, then progressing to ideas about musicality of clarinet music, as illustrated in my Deconstruction series on YouTube on the Brahms Sonatas and Weber Grand Duo and Concertino. When time permits, I will continue the series, examining the Mozart, Stamitz and Weber First Concerto, the Schumann Fantasiestucke and Romances.
So this book is going to be quite a journey! It is also going to be a work in progress, very malleable, in response to any further questions students may have, or instructors feel I have missed. I would also like to stress that this book will not necessarily be clarinet specific, as aspects of breathing, tone production, practice philosophy and performance nerves can be applied to other instruments. I also learnt piano, so may be able to incorporate some knowledge gained from my high school piano days. I was never any great shakes at it, and piano lessons gradually ceased in favour of my all consuming love for the clarinet.
Please join me for the first chapter, So You Want to Play the Clarinet?
