Clarinet Blogs

Our readers probably recall the clarinet blogs we have written about in the past: David H. Thomas’ The Buzzing Reed, Sherman Friedland’s Clarinet Corner, Marco Mazzini’s ClariPeru.  We’d like to mention a few blogs that have caught our attention recently and made it into posts on our Clarinet Cache blog.  

Back in August, we posted about Marion Harrington’s Clarinet Blog.  Marion Harrington is a clarinetist living in the Spain who began a clarinet performance degree, but before graduating she decided to quit playing and pursue other career options.  After over 20 years in a variety of other fields, Harrington decided to return to the clarinet and dedicate herself to returning to practicing and performing at a professional level.  Her blog therefore has the fresh perspective of someone who has returned to the clarinet "fold" later in life - passionately and systematically.  She posts her thoughts on practicing, interpretation, and clarinet equipment, along with other subjects such as business and marketing, and the future of classical music in general.  

Another new addition to our blogroll is the Musician’s Way Blog.  Designed as a companion site to the 2009 book The Musician's Way by Gerald Klickstein, MusiciansWay.com stands alone as a great resource for musicians. It is organized into five main subject areas (practice, performance, wellness, creativity, and music careers), each containing a wealth of information and links to primary sources such as scholarly articles, YouTube videos of master teachers, photos, and more. Any instrumentalist or vocalist has much to gain by exploring this site - find employment statistics, memorization strategies, scholarly articles on musician injuries, and everything in between. 

Clarinet-Now.com was created by Christopher Jones, a clarinetist in the Greater Hudson Valley area of New York State and student of Kalmen Opperman. The site has many inspirational strategies and tips for sight-reading, scales, crossing the break, and more, with great photos of correct and incorrect embouchure and hand position.  Clarinet-Now also offers a selection of items including a Richard Mühlfeld/Brahms T-shirt and clarinet high-top shoes!  The numerous ads are somewhat distracting, but the content of the site is useful, especially for beginners (and their parents), and teachers looking for a new way to explain specific aspects of clarinet technique. Keep up with the latest on the Clarinet-Now blog.   

Many other clarinetists are blogging about practicing, performing, and their lives as clarinetists, including Anthony McGill, Jean-Francois Charles, Joar Klæboe Henriksen, Margaret Donaghue Flavin, and Bret Pimentel.