Is it Me, Or My Equipment?

      This is a question every player has now and again- especially students. When something doesn't sound right with our tone, intonation, articulation, or really anything sound production related, you may ask yourself: "Is it my reed?" "Maybe my clarinet is out of tune with itself", or the most popular, "Is it my reed?" The short answer to this question is, it very well could be any of those things. If you have a private teacher, they will be able to figure out which of these it is. (If you don't have a private teacher- get one!) More often than not, if you have solid equipment and something still isn't right, it's you. A friend says to me quite often, "A good player can make any horn sound good." Even if your equipment isn't top notch, this should be a call to action for your technique- improve so much that even with shoddy equipment, you sound good. It's important to rely on your ability and not expensive equipment.
         This is a lesson I have had to learn the hard way my first semester in college. It's an easy thing to chalk it up to equipment and just give up. Once I realized that it was me and not the instrument (this took longer than it should have, considering my professor could play my clarinet just fine), I was able to push past intonation issues through many hours of voicing exercises. Hoping technical issues will go away isn't an effective way of making progress- take the bull by the horns, buckle down, and figure it out.
         That being said, good equipment doesn't hurt, either. A quality instrument can do a lot for a developing player, as well as a professional mouthpiece. Something I noticed a lot when I was younger is that, if a young band student has parents who weren't in band and don't have music experience, it's a lot harder to convince those parents to shell out a couple thousand dollars so their 16 year old can have a Buffet clarinet. Even when kids are starting out, I've seen talented kids with a lot of potential up and quit because playing on a 100- year- old plastic clarinet that's been sitting in a garage unplayed for about as long is a less than pleasant experience. It's so important to have a
working instrument in good condition. You have to enjoy playing to stick with it and get better. If my parents hadn't helped me get a good clarinet to start out with, I don't know if I would be in a conservatory today.

         For parents out there who need help finding a good instrument for a good price, I would recommend your local music store over a garage sale. Yes, some old clarinet may technically work, and you could spend a lot less money on it- however, it won't bring you or your student any joy to hear squeaking and squawking because you decided to skimp on equipment. There are a lot of inexpensive options out there to start out with. A good place to start would be to google music stores in your area to get an estimate on a student level clarinet. Almost equally important is the mouthpiece. A stock mouthpiece can be resistant and a nightmare when first learning. Again, there are many inexpensive and quality options. A couple I can think of are Prelude by Mike Lomax and the 5RV Lyre by Vandoren. Be sure to research the type of reeds that work best with that mouthpiece as well.
         The importance of having good equipment can not be understated- however, good equipment isn't the key to a good player. The best way to get better is to visit the practice room.

Happy practicing!
Gabby


To purchase the Vandoren 5RV Lyre mouthpiece, visit: https://www.wwbw.com/Vandoren-5RV-Lyre

To purchase to Lomax Prelude mouthpiece, visit: http://www.lomaxclassic.com

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