[musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
Kaiti Shelton
crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
Thu Dec 12 02:01:24 UTC 2013
Hi Marissa,
I have played clarinet for the past 9 years and now study it in
college as a music major. Here is what I would suggest.
What grade are you in school? Would it be feasible for you to join
your school's band? This is how I got my start, and it's great
because you have plenty of songs to work on, get to do it as a member
of a group, and have a teacher who can assist you in getting the
music/learning it.
If not, then I would highly recommend getting lessons of some sort.
They don't have to be from a professional clarinetist at this point,
but even a really good high school or undergraduate/graduate college
student would be able to pinpoint specific aspects of your playing to
work on and give you music that can address these techniques. Playing
melodies is just part of playing the clarinet or any other instrument;
there are articulations, dynamics, and other things that need to be
addressed in order for a piece to sound really good. Your ombiture
(the way you position your mouth) has a lot to do with all aspects of
playing, and it can take years to fix if you get into a habit of doing
it the wrong way. (speaking from experience).
If you're going to teach yourself music by ear, and learn the braille
music code yourself (both things I have done) here are a few tips I
found worked for me.
Realize that the notes you are playing on the clarinet are different
from a piano. If you've just picked it up and not had any
instruction, and checked the notes you were playing on the piano, you
may have thought that the note played without putting any fingers down
on the keys is an F. It is actually a G in clarinet music, so just
realize that although the pitch is an F the note will be shown as a
step higher in any music. Brandon's example of the note Bb actually
being a C (thumb and first 3 fingers of the left hand down) was also
correct.
It is great to start learning by ear, as it really strengthens your
musicianship and pays off in a big way later on if you do it long
enough. The more you do it the better you will get, but it is really
helpful to challenge your ear. Learning in a band and having to pick
out your part from others is a really good way to do this. It forces
you to listen to the people around you, which also teaches you how to
blend with others.
For learning braille music, I primarily used books available from NLS.
Titles included How to Read Braille Music, which has a great glossary
of signs in the back, and the dictionary of braille music signs. It's
really tedious to go through the dictionary, but it did a good job of
exposing me to different signs.
In general, stay away from youtube videos. While learning from some
can be beneficial, a lot of the clarinet covers I've found are pretty
bad in terms of tone quality and intonation, and the people don't
usually do a good job of using articulations. Playing things for fun
is fine, but when you're learning it is important that you work on
these skills.
There are also summer programs which are organized similar to camps.
Braille Beats in Lapeer Mi is one, and there are a few others around
the country. I know of a primarily jazz oriented program in
massachusetts, and I heard of one in Louisiana too. Some others on
the list may know of more. These programs are really fun, but do
address braille music along with other music skills.
Think of finding someone in your area who may know the code. I worked
on it with a blind woman I know from my area one summer and found it
to be really beneficial.
Overall, if none of these things work out, just continuously expose
yourself to the code. The thing that really helped me get solid in
reading it was taking a music theory course in my senior year of high
school, and the thing that really made the difference was reading
something in the code at least 5 days a week. The more you do
anything the better your skills will be.
I hope these suggestions help. Feel free to contact me off-list with
other questions.
On 12/11/13, marissa <marissat789 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I don't want to go to a school, that's the thing. I'd rather
> teach myself.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stephanie <naturelovingmom at gmail.com
> To: musictlk at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 10:37:36 +1000
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
> I know hadley school for the blind also offer braille music
> course, although I'd never taken it.
> Steph
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: marissa <marissat789 at gmail.com
> To: Music Talk Mailing List
> <musictlk at nfbnet.org>eamusictlk at nfbnet.orgeysoft 9.4.
> Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013 10:24 am
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
>
>
> I do not have a computer for skype, or a phone, or a camera,
> Wish
> I did
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stephanie <naturelovingmom at gmail.com
> To: musictlk at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 06:27:57 +1000
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
> Hi.
> First of all, the clarinet does sound different than a piano.
> Also, I teach braille music online via skype, feel free to email
> info at mitchellpianostudio.com if you want to find out more.
> Good luck with learning the clarinet!
> Steph
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: marissa <marissat789 at gmail.com
> To: Music Talk Mailing List <musictlk at nfbnet.org
> Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 9:22 pm
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
>
>
> Well, I found that the clarinet and the piano have the same
> sounding notes. I tested it on my clarinet and the keyboard at
> my school. I can't read braille music and don't have anyone to
> help with that, but I think my aunt is getting me the book from
> NLS that teaches braille music.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com
> To: Music Talk Mailing List <musictlk at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 21:04:34 -0800
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
> Hello,
> It sounds like you should just be learning any melody lines of
> music.
> Just find Christmas songs or folk songs or pop songs and play
> them by
> ear. If you know Braille music, you can get the vocal scores
> from NLS.
> If you get a teacher, you could start working on more difficult
> music.
> But the more difficult music will require that you learn
> Braille
> music.
> Just realize that your clarinet probably sounds a different
> note
> than
> what is written, so if you find music for a piece in the key of
> C
> and
> you play it on the piano, it will probably sound on your
> clarinet
> as Bb.
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
>
> On 12/10/2013 7:40 PM, marissa wrote:
> That's allright. (smiles) Do you know any songs? Meaning, do
> you know
> any easy songs on clarinet. I taught myself:
> River Flows in You
> Kiss the Rain
> part of Forever and Always
> part of Hedwig's Theme
> and made up two
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mary Donahue" <braille at satx.rr.com
> To: "'Music Talk Mailing List'" <musictlk at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:12:43 -0600
> Subject: Re: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
> Hello Marissa and everyone,
>
> I used to play clarinet, but it has been over 27 years
> since
> I
> touched one. Sorry I can't be more help.
>
> Mary Donahue
>
> "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch."
> Garrison Keillor
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: musictlk [mailto:musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of
> marissa
> Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 7:12 PM
> To: Music Talk
> Subject: [musictlk] Does anyone play clarinet?
>
> Hi all,
>
> I just wanted to know if anyone plays clarinet? I need some
> songs to
> try to
> play.
>
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--
Kaiti
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