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In This Issue October 4, 2013
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- A Note From Michelle Anderson - my musical retreat weekend, and looking forward to our Canadian Thanksgiving
- Free Training - 5 minute video to help you make one important correction in your technic
- Michelle Recommends - Artie Shaw Jazz Etudes book 2: Fourteen Etudes
- 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 bi-weekly newsletter. I welcome new readers to the Clarinet Mentors community, and I hope that you enjoy the clarinet knowledge that is shared here. Feel free to comment on any of the videos on the YouTube page, or by sending me an email. My goal is to continue to make life easier for clarinetists all around the world!
I have really enjoyed meeting several Clarinet Mentors members via Skype this past two weeks. I don't often have time for extra one-on-one lessons, but I took advantage of some openings in my schedule and met some of you from many places in the world. The fun thing is that everyone was really enjoying their clarinets, and were looking for ways to do it better. Music is such a rewarding hobby to take part in. I enjoyed meeting all of you!
I spent the weekend on beautiful Bowen Island here on the West Coast with about 30 of my musical colleagues as we did an intensive musical retreat. Lots of great music, beautiful surroundings, and great times with an amazing group of musicians. Is it just my opinion, or is it true that the world of musicians seems to be filled with extra-nice, smart, interesting folks...? I am lucky to have such colleagues in my life!
This weekend I look forward to a performing with Lion's Gate Sinfonia featuring the amazing Ian Parker on piano. Soon, I also get to enjoy rehearsing some Puccini with the Vancouver Opera. Amidst all of that, we celebrate Thanksgiving earlier than most places here in Canada, so we will have a huge gathering of friends and family on the 13th. Happy early Thanksgiving to my Canadian clarinet friends. We have a lot of family in the USA, so we'll get another Thanksgiving next month. Lucky me!
I hope you all have a great couple of weeks on your clarinet, and thanks for being part of my community.
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Free Training - Check your right arm/wrist/hand position
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This week, I encountered a few people who were finding that they commonly had trouble crossing the break and hitting high notes smoothly. These were reasonably advanced players, and had some good basic technic, but would occasionally notice a gap in the music. For a moment, as their fingers moved about the instrument, there would be a delay in sound before the next note (usually a right hand high register note) would speak clearly. We improved this significantly by examining how they positioned their right hand to wrist to forearm position. Most people are not aware that holding your arm incorrectly can hamper technic, and make it harder for your fingers to move properly. Basically, we want these body parts to be aligned in a straight line, and most people will bend at the wrist, sometimes quite significantly.
This 5 minute video will quickly show you what to look for in your own playing, and how you can improve this yourself. I am curious to know if this applies to you, and if it does, how correcting it affects your playing.
As always, I enjoy hearing from you, so please add your comments in the comments box below the video on YouTube, or send me an email. Click on the video image below to watch this video lesson.
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Michelle Recommends: Artie Shaw's Jazz Etudes
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Artie Shaw was a master of free flowing jazz technic on the clarinet. Some of his written material is still in print for us to enjoy. The Jazz Technic book two, 14 Clarinet Etudes, features some really fun jazz etudes for you to play. These are definitely advanced level. He uses the full range of the instrument, and they are designed to be performed at high speed (for the most part). Having said that, if you are a fan of this genre, it is valuable to simply tackle the easier ones at your own slower tempo, and have a taste of what it is like to play this great music.
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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 hundreds 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 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.
Thanks for reading this biweekly newsletter.
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Helping you to find success on your instrument with sound teaching techniques, and useful learning systems.
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