clarinet care

[Luna9]

Please can any clarinet player tell me about clarinet care. How often does the reed needs to be replaced? Does it need some maintenance? Special Storage ? Cleaning?

My dd is taking lessons at school; when she practices at home she is getting this squeaking sound and gets very frustrated. She is only a Beginner and I know nothing about clarinet .

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Should I buy a book?

Not an expert by any means, but both my DC have played clarinet at some point, DS still does.

Reed - should be taken out after playing each time, and put back in the little case it was in when it was bought. That way it will dry out between uses.

Replace when obviously worn (ragged edge) or chipped. DS plays his clarinet every day, often several times a day, but still only needs a new reed every couple of months.

Otherwise, use the cleaning cloth that should be with the instrument (if not, buy one e.g. www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/078040/details.html) to pull through after every use to dry out the inside.

Squeaking may be because the rood is not properly aligned on the mouthpiece - loosen the bands holding it on, align the top edges carefully, retighten. It may also be because she's not quite got the right 'hardness' of reed (teacher should advise you on that one) , or because the shape of her mouth isn't quite right yet. Does she get squeaking if playing the mouthpiece only (take it off the rest of the clarinet)? If so, it's a reed / mouth issue. If she gets squeaking only when playing particular notes, not with the mouthpiece only, a key could be badly aligned or she could not be pressing down fully - the latter is technique, the former needs whoever you got the instrument from to adjust it.

The best approach is to send a note in to the teacher (is this individual lessons? Or the dreaded 'whole class' version?) to ask for suggestions of things that you can try easily at home to solve the squeaking. It should also mean that they go over things to look for with your DD in her lesson.

We've never been advised to remove the reed! Does it prolong them then?
One thing we were advised was to leave the clarinet assembled at home, as it makes practice easier not having to build every time. So we have a little stand it goes on, out of the way in a niche by the piano so no chance of it being kicked over. That made a huge difference to willingness to practise we found.

Both of the teachers my DC have had advocated removing the reed, though DD was less reliable at doing this than DS is - particularly if you have a mouthpiece cap, then un-removed reeds can go interestingly mouldy!

I agree about leaving instruments assembled, if they are played mainly at home - DS has a dual clarinet / saxophone stand, but tbh once they get involved in group music making at any level (investigate whether your county has e.g. starter wind ensembles, because they are a really excellent motivational tool), the thing is always in and out of the house and it becomes less practical to leave them assembled.

Fior a beginning beginner, however, perhaps leaving reeds in place between lessons might be best, as they do need to be positioned well, which the child may not yet know how to do. We were given a handy little diagram! www.wikihow.com/Put-a-Reed-on-a-Clarinet might be helpful, though we have never soaked reeds.

Thank you very much; she always leave reed on. The lessons are in school but only 3 children at a time. I think only the very good players get invited to ensembles.

Great idea! I will send a note to the teacher.

The ensembles I mean are not school ones. Most counties / areas still have some remnant of what used to be the county music service, and these may well have very low level 'starter' ensembles.

This kind of thing:

fivevalleys.gloucestershiremusic.co.uk/First_access.aspx (that came from a fairly random google - try 'your county + music hub')

Sorry, possibly not the best link - the page before indicated that starters + First Access pupils would get together to form starter ensembles.

Different county:
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/sites/default/files/folders/documents/childreneducationandfamilies/educationandlearning/extracurricularactivities/musicservice/musiccentres/westox.pdf

Or another:
skipton-music-centre.org.uk/launch-pad

Thank you very much. Will look into in

Will look into it. Thanks a lot

Definitely look for a starter music group.

My DC (clarinet and sax) always remove their reeds.

DDs sax teacher taught her to use three reeds in rotation. Label the cases 1, 2 and 3. I'm not convinced DS2 follows the system as carefully, but it does mean as time goes on that they aren't trying to use a new reed for an exam or a solo.

Reeds come in different 'strengths' so it important, if possible, to find one that best suits the player. This link has a lot of information about clarinet reeds:

www.wikihow.com/Choose-a-Reed-for-a-Clarinet