2016-02-10 Warning - Your Clarinet Could Be Giving You Trouble (and it's easy to fix...)

Warning - Your Clarinet Could Be Giving You Trouble (and it's easy to fix...) Sent Wednesday, February 10, 2016 View as plaintext

Clarinet Mentors
For clarinetists who want to perform more easily and beautifully
 
In This Issue                  
February 10,  2016                     
  • A Note From Michelle Anderson - Winter Clarinet Maintenance
  • Free Training - Check Your Clarinet - If your clarinet is giving you trouble, it could be this easy-to-fix problem
  • Michelle Recommends - Spring Fantasy - A new CD of clarinet chamber music featuring Jeremy Reynolds
  • New: Faster Clarinet Fingers -  My best system to help you play clarinet with smoother fingers - try some brand new free preview videos now
  • Clarinet Is Easy - Complete how-to lessons for beginners and self-taught intermediate players
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A Note from Michelle Anderson
Hello  !
 
Welcome to the Clarinet Mentors newsletter. I hope you have been enjoying your musical endeavours lately. I love being in contact with clarinetists like yourself, from all parts of the world. We have a great community of clarinetists of all ages and levels of experience.
 
I have been meeting some of you online through various masterclasses recently, and I have really appreciated how focused and dedicated many adult learners are on the clarinet. If you are returning to the clarinet after years away, you are in a great position to really use the best systems to play with good habits, and improve very quickly. I am inspired at how much progress a focused adult can make in only a few weeks. I hope I can be that focused myself!
 
I hope you are doing well, and please watch the free training in today's newsletter. I have included some special videos to help you improve your clarinet fingering in this newsletter. These are brand new, and another part of my new course that is (finally) ready for you to enjoy! I also have a video here about some winter clarinet maintenance that is very short to watch, but may help save you lots of effort and frustration if your clarinet has this common problem.
 
I have been enjoying lots of snow in our local mountains, and sunny weather down in the city. I recently played in a concert of Tango music with the Vancouver Symphony, and am gearing up for performances of Madama Butterfly with the Vancouver Opera, as well as a wind chamber music concert with West Coast Chamber Music. Lots of playing, but for me, one of the funnest parts of playing clarinet is being able to play with other musicians. 
 
Thanks for being a part of the Clarinet Mentor's Community!
Free Training: Does Your Clarinet Feel Harder to Play? (More resistant, or squeaky?) This 5 minute video contains information you should know about a common clarinet maintenance problem, especially in winter
I have been out at several local schools recently helping clarinetists in school band programs with basic clarinet skills. I encountered three different students who were having mysterious troubles on their clarinet. They were getting airy and fuzzy tone, it felt "hard to blow", and nothing looked wrong with their clarinet keys. In a few cases, their teachers had looked over the instrument and seen nothing wrong. However, there was something wrong, and once we fixed it, it was so much easier to produce sound on the clarinet. They, (as we all tend to do), had blamed themselves. They decided that they just weren't good at clarinet, and felt pretty crummy about their playing. At times we do cause our own problems, but when it is a mechanical challenge that is easy to fix, you should know about it.
 
This video is about 5 minutes, and is worth watching in case it ever happens to your clarinet. It has happened to mine, and I want you to know what to do if needed.
 
Click on the photo below, or this link.
Michelle Recommends - Spring Fantasy - Chamber Music featuring Jeremy Reynolds on clarinet
Dr. Jeremy Reynolds is a friend of mine who is a superb teacher and clarinetist. He recently recorded a CD of clarinet, cello and piano chamber music, that is very well-performed and produced. This particular combination of instruments is one of my favorite chamber music combinations, and I have enjoyed playing some of the music on this CD here in Vancouver.
 
This recording showcases the superb artistry of these musicians. I always recommend listening to good clarinetists to help us to define our own concept of good tone. If you haven't heard Jeremy play, I think you would really enjoy this CD.
 
Announcing - The Second Installment of Michelle's new course: How To Play Clarinet More Easily - for the intermediate to advanced player - Sign up here for Free Preview Videos to improve your clarinet finger speed and ease of playing
WhooHooo!!! A new clarinet course for you! This course, How To Play Clarinet More Easily, is designed for players with an intermediate  level of clarinet skills. (If you are newer to the instrument, or basically self-taught, the Clarinet Is Easy course, below, is a great starting point to prepare you for this upcoming course.)
 
I am happy to announce that one of the most important sections of this new course, Faster Clarinet Fingers, is now available. If you are interested in finding out more about this, you can access some free preview videos here: http://www.fasterclarinetfingers.com/getstarted
 
Please enjoy the preview videos that are available to you here. Training fingers to move more quickly and easily on the clarinet is one area where most people see the quickest improvement once they have systems to help them improve. I invite you to try out the free videos here, and if you want to go deeper, try out this course with me.
Clarinet Is Easy - Your Step-by-Step Beginner Course - Now Available! (Also enjoyed by many intermediate level players)
How To Solve Your Common Clarinet Frustrations and Play Clarinet More Easily
 
I firmly believe that if anyone has the "recipe" for how to play clarinet, things are really relatively easy to do. Most of our frustrations come from inadvertently learning bad habits along the way. With that in mind, I have created for you a 10-lesson comprehensive course for beginners (and self-taught intermediate players) that gives you the tools to truly learn the clarinet easily, while avoiding all of the most common frustrations that can plague us. I believe that these lessons can save you hours of grief by giving you the best practise systems that have worked for thousands of clarinetists. The lessons have great content, and are presented in a video format so that you can watch them again and again. If you would like to play with more ease and have a clear understanding of the fundamentals of clarinet playing, you can get more information on the Clarinet Is Easy course here (including some free preview videos):
 
Click here for the free preview videos to Clarinet Is Easy
 
 
If you are curious about this, you can try these lessons with a 100% 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. (That means that you can try a full 5 lessons before you decide if you have received great value from the course.) If it is not the right style for you, you get your tuition refunded, no problem. I invite you to try it now! Many students have received amazing results so far from this course (and you can read their comments on the order page).
 
 
 
About Michelle Anderson
Michelle Anderson, the founder of Clarinet Mentors,  is a professional clarinetist and teacher who currently lives in Vancouver BC. Her professional career spans over 30 years and she currently plays regularly with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the West Coast Chamber Music series. She has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Touring Orchestra and many other groups. Michelle currently specializes in teaching adults to play clarinet more easily and quickly through online resources, and conducts the Vancouver Clarinet Choir. Michelle is a Backun Musical Services Artist and plays on Backun clarinets and mouthpieces.
Thanks for reading this biweekly newsletter. If you think a friend would enjoy this, please feel free to forward it. If they want to enrol in the Clarinet Mentors Community, they can go to www.learnclarinetnow.com.
Helping you to find success on your instrument with proven, easy-to-follow systems that are designed to help you sound good, and feel better about your playing.
 
 
   
 
 
 

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