A couple of months ago I started to learn to play the clarinet. Having played saxophone for many years both helps and hinders me. For the first month, I suffered listening to the terrible tone that I was able to create. It wasn’t as noticeable as when my wife, an accomplished clarinet player played.

Initially I was more than 5 cents flat. The embouchure was the major culprit; that and overblowing the instrument. To fix the embouchure I found that if I smiled a little, the tone would blow closer in tune. The sax embouchure is an ‘O’ shape, so this is a significant change for me to get used to. Using this new embouchure I have found that I can hit higher notes easier too.

I am using my wife’s Leblanc Paris with a Hite Premier mouthpiece and lig. My wife is using the Buffet R-13 Festival with a Ralph Morgan RM14 (jazz), Vandoren 45* (legit) with an Optimum lig. I gave my Leblanc Paris Symphonie (1930s) to my son, the music major.

My daughter has just returned to clarinet playing after a ten year break. She has my wife’s old Selmer Signet. I set her up with a Selmer C80 and a Hite Premier, but she like the Vito mouthpiece she used in High School. We are such a musical family.