QuickStart Clarinet Blog

Photo by Enis Yavuz on Unsplash

You've probably heard that the corners of your embouchure are important. But why exactly? And how do you actually develop those muscles so they can do their job?

This post covers both of those questions: why the corners matter so much for your clarinet sound, and wh...

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...

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...

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...