Musical Grading and my Experiences

This week I will be talking about my musical grading and experiences. I have passed both grade 1 and 2 in my clarinet practical exams and will be doing my grade 4 at the beginning of next year. I must admit its quite scary to stand there in a room with an examiner who has a blank expression on their face, as you're left with the suspense of "did I do well or was that horrible?" but other then that it's not too bad apart for the other down side of having to worry about playing your pieces correctly and remembering all the scales and arpeggios which you have to do.

 There are many academies you can do your exams through and I did mine through ABRSM which stands for the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music.

When going into the exam room you are with an examiner from England. First they start off with you doing scales and arpeggios, then they move onto the aural training. "Ear training or aural skills is a skill by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music." After this they move onto sight reading, which is where they give you a short piece to read over for about a minute (no playing though it, just analysing) and once that minute is up you need to play through it as best you can. In my opinion I like the sight reading the least because of the fact that the examiner keeps a complete poker face during the piece, which is rather nerve wrecking if you ask me. Once all of this is done, you finally get to play through your pieces. two being pieces with accompaniment and the third being a study, this is a prepared piece which is played alone. After months of anticipation you finally get your results. :)

ABRSM logo

The History of the Clarinet

The clarinet was invented by Johann Christoph Denner in 1960 in Germany, Nuremberg. The clarinet is a single reed instrument belonging to the woodwind family. It is an instrument with a cylindrical tube shape, while the bottom end extends out to look like a bell. It evolved from the earlier instrument, the chalumeau. This was the first single reed instrument.

Denner and his son Jacob improved the chalumeau creating a new instrument, the clarinet. Denner added two extra keys to the chalumeau increasing the instruments range by 2 octaves. He improved the mouthpiece and also the bell (end of the instrument). Mozart was the first composer to use the clarinet in a symphony. The chalumeau comes from the Latin word "calamellus" meaning reed.

Johann Christoph Denner

 

Jacob Denner

The Chalumeau

Paying Tribute to Squidward

Hey guys, this time I will be talking about Squidward. As some of you may know, Squidward also plays the clarinet but I'll have you know that the way he plays it is not at ALL what a clarinet sounds like. I think he's so cute based on the fact that he thinks he's the best clarinetist in the world.  As a clarinet player you have to be confident in the instrument you play and this is exactly how he is. Even though he isn't as good as what is expected of a clarinetist, I like him either way. :)

baroque Squidward

 

playing a song
 

 

Squidward on the clarinet

Parts of a Clarinet and the Mouthpiece

This week I will be talking about parts of a clarinet. There are five parts to the clarinet: the mouth piece,the barrel, the upper or first joint, the lower or second joint and the bell. The joints are where all the keys are. The mouth piece is also made up of specific parts: the mouth piece ( of cause), the ligature (this holds the reed in place and the mouthpiece cap (which protects the reed from being damaged when not in use). When you are done with the instrument, you put it in a case. Here are some pictures for you guys:

these are the parts of a clarinet

parts of the mouthpiece

a metal mouthpiece cover

clarinet disassembled in a case 

The Reed

 Sound is made by the vibration of the reed on your lips. These reeds are made from pure bamboo. There are many sizes or strengths of a clarinet reed. Sizes range from 1and a half to 5. The higher the reed size the better and clearer the sound. To other people this may not make a difference but to a clarinetist, we can hear and feel it. Reeds are very delicate and chips easily. But lucky for us, there are ways to protect these fragile things. People use boxes or reed holders to protect the tips. Here are a few pictures of reeds, chipped reeds and reed holders:




this is a really bad chipped reed

a normal looking reed

a reed holder (maximum of 2 reeds)

a reed holder for multiple reeds

My First Blog

Hi guys this is my first blog post ever!!!!! Way excited. My blog is about my passion for the instrument I know and love very much... the clarinet. I started playing this instrument and went for lessons at age 11, which I think is about grade 5. Through this blog I will be taking you through a few things about this amazing (yet slightly challenging) beauty of the clarinet.