Who was your first clarinet teacher and what did they teach you?
When I was 11, I joined my school band (which was very small, I think there were only 8 of us!) and my first teacher was a wonderful man called Mr. Dowling, who actually was a tuba player! He was incredibly kind and patient (especially with this one rowdy trumpet player), but the thing I remember him instilling most in me was the need to have nice curved fingers for good clarinet playing. If I think of it, even now, I can remember him demonstrating the perfect curve!
I went on to have many wonderful clarinet teachers (who were actual clarinetists) but I will never forget Mr. Dowling!
This week, I’d love to hear about your first clarinet teacher and what they taught you!
7 replies
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Honestly my middle school and high school teachers just taught me the basics. Honestly I was frustrated with my HS teacher whose only advice was to “work on my embrasure” without really teaching me how to do it.
I learned a lot more when I picked up my clarinet again a few years ago. I hired a in instructor who is a professional player in a symphony in Canada and I have learned sooooo much from her. Between my lessons from her and the courses here on tonebase I know I’ll be better and better every day -
I also just learned very basic things from my early clarinet teachers. My most memorable teacher who I refer to as, "Clarinet Teacher," taught me the most about how to make the clarinet sound good and how to articulate well. He was very old school and I'm including some of my diary of his insults here for comic relief. I finally stopped taking lessons from him and getting insulted in early 2020.
12.20.17 I’m skipping my lesson this week which prompted clarinet teacher to warn: “Don’t let your embouchure revert to being a bean bag and don’t relapse into breathing from your tonsils."
3.21.17 Clarinet teacher describes how to play Tuileries solo in Pictures at an Exhibition: 'This will take some heavy method acting on your part, but you have to make it sound like you're happy to be alive.'
3.27.17 Clarinet teacher advice of the week: 'It's a lot harder to play bad music than it is good music.' (Gestures with pencil) 'Insert genius here.'
5.23.18 This week at clarinet lesson: 'Have I ever mentioned that sometimes you look like you’re chewing your cud while playing? No chewing cud while playing!
1.6.18 I forgot to mention clarinet teacher’s giant jar of ear plugs that sits in the middle of his desk of clarinet stuff. He was wearing one this week in the ear next to me for the first time in a while. One day I asked him about the jar saying it didn’t inspire confidence. He said jokingly, “It’s a tacit reminder that I wish you didn’t exist.”
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I started in 2017 and have only had one teacher since then. Unfortunately, she's quitting now because she's leaving, which I really regret. I think I was lucky with her; we're about the same age, and I found her truly inspiring and charismatic, which motivated me a lot. At first, I never thought I'd get this far with the clarinet. It was more of an experiment for me. There were a few orchestra projects in our city where she took me along as second clarinet, which was an honor for me. Now someone new is coming, and I'm very excited. She's still studying, but I think that's a great opportunity too; I can really profit from what they're learning at the music academy.
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My first teacher was Frances Luther. She directed my elementary school band. She was fresh out of Ithaca College in upstate NY. She was 22, I was 9 and I was her first private student. I caught up with her in 2021 and we were joking my daughters are significantly older than she was then. I studied at times with both her and her husband. They were solid musicians, encouraging and kind. I stayed with her until I enterered Juilliard Pre-College towards the end of high school.