QuickStart Clarinet Blog

There is an amazing clarinet event happening right now that I have to tell you about!

Michelle Anderson of Clarinet Mentors is hosting an online clarinet conference called Clarinet Connections!

She is having on a bunch of fantastic performers and teachers in live Zoom meetings to discuss all...

For those of you who have been around QuickStart Clarinet for a while, you are likely aware of the Monthly Masterclass program that I started at the beginning of 2020.

But what exactly is it?

As I explored all of the ways I could best help as many clarinetists as possible, I came to the...

Everything you need to know to be a great musician?!?

It seems hard to gather that all into one video or one process, and though there is probably some more fleshing out to do on this theory, I think you will find it to be quite insightful!

I first learned about the Grand Unified Theory in one of...

I hope all is well in your world! If you need a little pick me up, this post is for you! Whenever, I am feeling down or in a rut, one of the best ways that I find to get me up and going again is to listen to some really great, inspiring music.

I put together a playlist of some of my favorite...

Did you know there is now a QuickStart Clarinet Community Facebook Group?!?

My goal for this group is to provide a place that is dedicated to supporting each other along our clarinet journeys. So what does that look like?

You can post questions that you have about playing or a specific piece, and...

Before I get into when it is alright to blame the reed, I want to really quickly and very importantly say that a lot of times it is NOT the reed's fault! Almost all of the issues that arise in the video can be encountered by poor clarinet fundamentals as well.

With that out of the way, I want to...

Writing this at the end of March 2020, I am thinking of ways that I can help the clarinet community while most of the world is on lock down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Though this is particularly pertinent in these difficult times, all of these resources are fantastic at anytime you may...

Today is the day! After a few weeks of pondering the toxicity in classical music and the reasoning behind it, today we are finally going to come up with some solutions.

So if scarcity and competition are the issues that lead to toxicity, the solution is very simply the opposite of that: abundance...

In my last blog post, we looked at all the ways that classical music is toxic, so today I want to explore why that might be.

Most of this comes down to scarcity and competition. Let's look at the examples of toxicity I listed in the previous post, again.

I have to play well enough to get a solo...

A brief warning before we get too far into this. This is a sort of half baked idea, and I would really love to hear your thoughts on this. I suspect I may make several more posts on this subject, and would love to get your input. I also hope to find a positive end to this, though I do expect that...