CALLY LAUGHLIN
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  • Bio
  • YouTube
    • Free Downloads
    • Free Metronome
  • Excerpt Book
  • Patreon
  • Learn With Cally
    • Blog
    • Lessons
    • Clarinet Studio Portal
    • Video Lessons
    • Online Courses
  • Contact

Buying a New Clarinet

1/26/2016

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It can be tough to choose a clarinet for yourself, your beginning child, or your advancing high school clarinetist. Here are some tips that I have acquired in my experience as a clarinetist and educator. 

Where to start:
Start beginners with an intermediate clarinet, if your budget will allow, and then switch to a professional model in high school. If you must purchase a plastic beginner clarinet, choose one of the models below for reliability and durability, then switch to a professional model in high school.


Beginner models:
Choose instruments made in the USA or France.  These instruments are made from durable, quality material that sounds great and can withstand beginner wear and tear. Cheap instruments will break easily, and are inconsistently made, making replacement parts difficult to impossible for repair technicians to find. Many repair techs will refuse to repair cheaply made instruments. The instruments below are reliable student model clarinets:
  • Vito
  • Selmer USA
  • Yamaha (student models)
  • Buffet (student models)

Intermediate models:
(note:  I would recommend purchasing a professional model over an intermediate model if you can afford it.)
  • Buffet E-11
  • Buffet E-13 
  • Buffet E-12F
  • Yamaha YCL-650 (marketed as a pro model, but in intermediate price range)

Professional models:
  • Yamaha: Custom CSVR (most affordable entry level pro model clarinet)
  • Buffet: R13 (most affordable of this line, and best seller!), RC, Tosca, etc.  All models are great!
  • Selmer Paris: Signature, Recital, Privilege, Odyssey, etc.  All models are great - find the one that works best for you!
  • Leblanc: No longer being manufactured, but used models can be found: Opus, Concerto, Legacy, Symphonie

Clarinet - Intermediate and Professional Model Buying Guide
First, if you have a private instructor, please ask them to help you pick out a new clarinet.  Second, always try as many instruments side-by-side as you can.  Since quality clarinets are made of wood (a natural material), every instrument is going to feel/sound slightly different.  

You will need:  New reeds, a tuner, paper, contrasting pieces of music (fast, slow, legato, fast articulation, etc).
  1. INTONATION TEST:  Goal is within +/- 10 cents.  Pick one clarinet, and play the chromatic scale from the lowest note to the highest note, slowly with full air support, while watching the tuner.  Have a friend or teacher watch the tuner, too, and take note of any intonation issues. 
    • NOTE: Make sure pro model clarinet is warmed up first. Also, Students coming from a beginner model clarinet will find a pro model clarinet to feel very different, especially in intonation. Be sure to play with high tongue position and full air support through the entire intonation test, and take breaks when you need to. I strongly advise students to involve their private teacher in picking out a professional model clarinet for the first time.
  2. EVENNESS TEST:  While you are playing the chromatic scale, also pay attention to which notes are too "free blowing," "stick out," sound "covered," or "fuzzy" on the instrument.  Write this down to keep track and compare after trying out all clarinets. Any instrument with too many oddities in evenness would not be a wise purchase.
  3. Repeat steps 1-2 for all instruments. If any instrument has unusual intonation or is overly uneven sounding (some notes will be more free blowing than others), do not go on to step 4.
  4. FEEL TEST:  Compare the instruments with the best intonation/evenness, play your favorite pieces of music, and compare the feel of each instrument.  At this point, you finally have to choose the instrument that best suits your personal style, sound, and that has the feel you want.
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Lake Effect's 2015 Adventures

1/9/2016

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One of my favorite things about this group how inspiring and awesome my fellow members are. Erin is a master arranger and an incredibly sensitive 2nd clarinet player, Joe literally can sing through his bass, and I don't even understand how Nora makes the E-flat clarinet sound so freaking good. Seriously. These guys inspire me every time I hear them play. Anyway, we had an eventful 2015. In this post, I will share some highlights from the year.

In March, we played a public concert in Lincoln Park at the DePaul Art Museum. It was a Schubertiade, and being the permanent 3rd clarinetist of the group, I was the lucky winner of having to play the viola part. Folks, let me tell you... playing the viola part in a string quartet is actually really hard. Throat tones galore! I really had to up my game in projecting my sound in the low to mid register. Who would have thought that air support, embouchure control, and playing with high tongue position would help that cause?

Part way through the year, we signed on with Vandoren as Generation Vandoren artists. If you aren't sure what it is, that's okay; we weren't sure either. It's kind of a new thing. Basically, we are an artist group that, in addition to performing regular concerts, connects with the younger generation of clarinet players through our presence in social media - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and good old fashioned school clinics.  
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Pictured right:
Clinic at Lakeview High School in Chicago, IL.   


At our school clinics, we typically feature Erin Miesner's master arrangements and tips for students to self-rehearse their own chamber music. We even include interactive games on how to make musical decisions independently of a coach or director.
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Pictured left: Vandoren Booth at Midwest Clinic 2015, post-LECQ performance. DePaul University alumni and faculty!  

With an exciting 2015 behind us, Lake Effect Clarinet Quartet is looking forward to an even more clarinet filled 2016. For more information about Lake Effect Clarinet Quartet, visit our website at lakeeffectclarinetquartet.com and like us on Facebook!  

Next stop: Elmhurst Concert at Elmhurst Public Library, in February 2016!  
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    Cally Laughlin

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