In This Issue
January 21, 2016
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- A Note From Michelle Anderson - Clarinet New Year's Resolutions
- Free Training - Tone Checklist part 3 - This one video could change how you sound for the better - Air Support!
- Michelle Recommends - David Shifrin - One of today's clarinet masters - Live concert streaming online in a couple of hours if you see this on time
- Better Clarinet Tone - My best system to help you play clarinet with better tone - try some 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
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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 was a bit later than usual sending out today's newsletter, however, the free training is about double the usual amount, so I hope that makes up for the delay!
I often like to consider "Clarinet New Year's Resolutions". Since everyone is thinking about such things in a new calendar year, perhaps you could think about things to add to your clarinet playing. There are many resolutions that you could make - to play with better tone, to be diligent with a regular practise routine, to take some lessons, to join a new group, to play with less tension in the body, to work on articulation etc. I'm sure you have some goals for your own playing. For me, I am going to try and ensure that each practise session is really developing the best habits possible. I'll think about a very conscious warm-up, and continually review my best habits checklists. I have lots of resources to help you if any of these topics resonate with you. There are over 80 videos on the Clarinet Mentors YouTube channel, and also some of the courses listed below in this newsletter.
Thanks again for being a part of my Clarinet Mentors Community, and I hope you enjoy your clarinet this week!
Free Training: Clarinet Mentors Tone Checklist Part Three - One of my most valuable YouTube videos for helping you to improve your tone
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I believe that almost every clarinetist wants to sound better. It sounds simplistic to state it that way, but it is true. We all have our "clarinet idols" - those amazing performers that have beautiful tone flowing out of their instruments, and somehow combine it with superb musical sensitivity and expression. They are our role models for what we want to do with our own instruments.
I have been giving clarinet tone a lot of thought, since the thing I hear from all of you in the Clarinet Mentor's community more than anything, is that you just want your clarinet to sound better. After this free training, scroll down to find out how you can access preview videos to my course on Better Clarinet Tone.)
Today's video continues the training from last newsletter, where I try and give you "everything that you need to think about to create good clarinet tone". Today's video focuses on some practical technics to improve your air support, which is one of the keystones to good clarinet tone. Some of these ideas I have presented before, but having four of them in one video really helps to tie some important concepts together. You will learn about the following clarinet technics in this video:
1:41" How Posture Affects Clarinet Tone
3:37" Belly Huffs - A Great Tool To Improve Tone
10:08" Long Tones
15:40" Whisper Technic
19:03" Recap and review of all of these clarinet technics
I have created the Clarinet Mentors Tone Checklist for you, which you can download here: http://www.clarinetmentors.com/resources/ClarinetMentorsToneChecklist.pdf. You can use this checklist to evaluate what areas of your playing may need work, and try out some of the suggestions in the associated videos. I will add more material to the checklist as the next couple of YouTube videos come available to you. This has been updated since the last newsletter, so I encourage you to download this again even if you already have it.
I hope you enjoy it, and you will receive the more videos in the next newsletter. This is one of my cornerstones of clarinet teaching - how to pass on the many skills related to producing a good tone. I hope it helps you to sound your best.
You can click on the photo below, or find the video by clicking here.
Michelle Recommends: David Shifrin - A Clarinet Master
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When I first started taking clarinet lessons at age 12, I was fortunate enough to study with the great Ted Oien, who presented many of the teaching ideas that I use today. He had three recordings (vinyl records in those days) that all of his students had to listen to in order to study with him. One of them was by David Shifrin, and I think I listened to that LP until it wore out! (Actually until my little sister accidentally left it in very hot window sill and it met a horrible melted ending...however, I now have access to many more of his recordings to help me recover from that trauma!) (Mr. Shifrin - If you are reading this, I'd love to find another copy of your In Recital album with clarinet and piano.)
If you are not familiar with his playing, there are many great recordings on his webpage at:
If you are reading this before 7:30 pm EST today, you can click on the link below to watch a live streaming recital for clarinet and piano featuring Mr. Shifrin and pianist Gloria Chien. Hopefully there will be a replay if you discover this after the concert. (I know that is just hours away, but I just found out about it.)
Announcing - The First Installment of Michelle's new course: How To Play Clarinet More Easily - for the intermediate to advanced player
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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, Better Clarinet Tone, is now available. If you are interested in finding out more about this, you can access some free preview videos here: http://www.greatclarinettone.com/getstarted
The rest of the course will follow soon. I think the tone unit is the most important one, and probably the one that has made the most difference to the members of the clarinet community who have been testing out the lessons for me. I'll share some of their comments with you soon as well.
Clarinet Is Easy - Your Step-by-Step Beginner Course - Now Available! (Also enjoyed by many intermediate level players)
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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).
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.
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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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