QuickStart Clarinet Blog

Quarter note triplets are one of the most commonly misread rhythms in music. If you've ever played them and had a teacher or conductor stop you because something felt off, you're not alone. The quarter note triplet is genuinely tricky to internalize, and most players approach it in a way that makes ...

Tongue position and articulation are two of the most misunderstood aspects of clarinet playing. Most of what your tongue does happens completely out of sight, which makes it hard for teachers to spot problems and hard for students to know what to fix.

In this post we're going to cover where your to...

Whether you're buying your first clarinet or upgrading from a student model, this is a significant purchase and it deserves some real thought. There are a lot of options out there and the differences between them actually matter for how you play and how much you enjoy playing.

Here's everything you...

Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash

The altissimo register is one of those things that every clarinetist eventually has to tackle, and for a lot of players it feels like a wall. The notes are finicky, they squeak, they don't always come out on command, and the harder you try, the worse it gets.

Here...

Photo by Declan Sun on Unsplash

I seriously do not recommend majoring in music performance. And it's probably not for the reasons you're thinking.

Before you close this tab, hear me out. I have a bachelor's and a master's in music performance. I lived this experience for six years. I'm not here to...

If your clarinet sound has that breathy, fuzzy quality to it, where the tone feels more like air than actual note, you are definitely not alone. It's one of the most common complaints I hear from players at all levels.

The good news is that a fuzzy or airy sound is a fixable problem. Once you under...

Every beginning clarinetist makes mistakes. That's completely normal, and it's part of learning. But some mistakes are so common that I see them come up over and over again with students at every level, and a lot of them are completely avoidable once you know what to look for.

Here are the ten most...

You've made a great sound. You've played Hot Cross Buns. Now what?

Here's the honest truth about getting better at clarinet: it comes down to a very small number of things practiced consistently and practiced well. The same things that professional clarinetists work on every single day are the same...

You can make a sound. You understand how air, tongue, and embouchure work together. Now it's time to actually play some music.

In this post, we're going to learn Hot Cross Buns on the clarinet. Yes, that Hot Cross Buns. And by the time you're done, you'll understand not just how to play it, but why...

Your clarinet is assembled. Your reed is on. Now comes the moment of truth: actually making a sound.

Here's something I tell every new student: making a great sound on the clarinet is a skill, and it's a skill you can absolutely learn. But it starts with understanding what's actually happening when...