Best
Clarinet cleaner
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Overall: Keeping your clarinet and mouthpiece clean
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Best Feature: A microfibre, very absorbent cleaner
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TedScore: 10/10
Best
cork grease
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Overall: All tenon corks
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Best Feature: Easy to use lipstick style cork grease
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TedScore: 8/10
Best
clarinet Reed
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Overall: All musicians from beginners to professionals.
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Best Feature: A reliable, readily available reed.
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TedScore: 9/10
Putting your clarinet together is the first step to getting acquainted with your new instrument and getting started making your first sounds. This beginner’s first article will provide you with a few top tips for putting your clarinet together properly and safely so that none of the keys or joints gets damaged.
Make sure that you take your time putting your new clarinet back together. Rushing this job can put you at risk of bending keys or bashing joints that fit together well, potentially causing splits or chips to the body of the instrument. Slow and steady is best!
Clarinet Parts
The clarinet is made up of an assembly of five main parts; the bell, the barrel, the upper and lower joints and the mouthpiece. Make sure that you know which is which before you start putting your clarinet together. Here is a very handy diagram to help identify each part.
The bell
The bell is the flared part at the bottom of the clarinet – it literally looks like a bell!
The lower joint stalk
The lower joint stalk connects the bell and the upper joint. It is controlled with your right hand and has the all-important thumb rest on the back. The clarinet rests on your right-hand thumb which takes the majority of the weight of the instrument.
This section of the clarinet has three open tone holes for your fingers and seven other keys which are controlled with the touch of your little fingers. Take a look at our Clarinet Fingering Chart here for more info on what the keys do.
The upper joint stalk
The upper joint stalk is the joint of the clarinet controlled with the left hand. Like the lower joint, the shape of it is flat and has three open tone holes at the front, the thumb hole and register key at the back and a selection of other keys to create lots of lovely notes!
The barrel
The barrel connects the upper joint and the mouthpiece. Again it is named because it is barrel-shaped!
The mouthpiece
The mouthpiece sits at the very top of the clarinet and is where the reed is attached. The reed is attached to the flat side of the mouthpiece using a ligature – usually made out of metal or leather.
Steps in Assembling Your Clarinet
Assembling a clarinet is a five-step process. It is best to start at the bottom and gradually work your way up to assemble the instrument. It is very important to take your time and be careful not to grip the joints too firmly so as not to cause any damage to the keys.
- First of all, make sure that you know which joint is which! The descriptions above and the Yamaha diagram will help you with this.
Start by attaching the bell onto the bottom of the lower joint stalk.
- Next, add the upper joint stalk. This step is the most delicate because of all the keys on the upper and lower joints. These can bend if you apply too much pressure so be careful! Make sure that you keep the keys lined up when you first put the upper and lower joints together. Press down the keys of the upper joint whilst gently pushing it onto the lower joint.
- Then carefully twist the lower joint round until the bridge key which links the two joints together (on the left-hand side of the clarinet) is lined up. This will make sure that the keywork works properly across the two joints.
- Next, add the barrel. The wider end of the barrel fits onto the top of the upper joint. Push the barrel all the way into the upper joint initially. You can adjust this as you tune up by pulling the barrel out a little bit.
- The last stage is to add the mouthpiece and reed. The mouthpiece will fit perfectly into the top of the barrel. You then add the reed (more on this below), and you can start making your first sounds!
To take apart your clarinet just reverse this process. Again, make sure that you take your time and don’t put too much pressure on the joints so that none of the keys gets loose, bent or broken. And ALWAYS make sure you take your reed off!
Line up the Bell, Joints & Barrel
The only two joints of the clarinet which HAVE to be lined up properly are the upper and lower joints. If these two joints aren’t aligned properly, then the keys won’t work. As mentioned above look out for the bridge key. This is made up of two pieces of metal which link the two joints together.
Press down the keys of the upper joint whilst you put these two pieces of the clarinet together and gently line up the linking key.
The bell, barrel and joints can be aligned so that the maker’s badge is all lined up. This is not essential, but it does look lovely!
Assembling the Mouthpiece & Reed
The last difficult step of putting your clarinet together is adding the mouthpiece and reed. It is best to put the reed on last so that it doesn’t shift as you try to slot the mouthpiece onto the top of the barrel.
Once the mouthpiece is added to the clarinet, you can add the reed. First of all wet the reed simply by putting it into your mouth. Make sure that you wet the whole reed, not just the tip.
Next, take the mouthpiece cap and ligature off the mouthpiece and put them to one side. Place the reed over the window in the mouthpiece and line the tip of the reed up with the top of the mouthpiece. Hold the reed in place with your thumb and carefully loop the ligature over the reed down to the lower part of the reed. Gently tighten up the screws of the ligature. Make sure that you don’t over-tighten the ligature screws; this can restrict the reed and make it a bit harder to play.
The most important thing to remember when handling your reed is that the tip of the reed is very thin, no matter the strength of the reed. Be careful not to knock it or bump it on your chair or music stand/clarinet case/clothing because this can cause cracks and chips.
Tips for Maintaining Your Clarinet After Use
Looking after your clarinet is really important. Proper maintenance will make sure that the instrument keeps working properly and lasts a long time. Trips to the repairer are sometimes inevitable throughout the lifespan of an instrument, but there are a few top tips that will make sure that you keep these to a minimum.
CLEAN AND DRY = A HAPPY CLARINET
The best thing that you can do to look after your clarinet is to keep the inside of your instrument clean and dry. Clean it out every time you play and don’t leave it to air dry. Use a pull-through style cleaner – a cloth with a weighted string. Simply drop the string and gently pull it through each section of the clarinet.
Keeping your clarinet clean and dry will ensure that none of the pads gets waterlogged and no moisture gets trapped in any of the holes.
GREASE YOUR CORKS!
When you put your clarinet together, you will notice that the ends of the upper joint and lower joint stalks and the mouthpiece are covered in cork. This cork holds the two sections of the clarinet together, creating an air-tight seal.
It is important to keep your corks greased – a bit like moisturising your skin! The cork grease keeps the cork soft and pliable. If the corks dry out they can crumble and fall off and will need to be replaced.
Lipstick-style cork grease is very easy to use – simply smear a thin layer onto the cork and rub it in with your fingers until you begin to feel the cork get a bit warm. This helps the grease sink in.
THE REED COMES OFF
Every time you finish playing – whether it is a quick 10-minute practice session, taking a lesson or a long concert is vital to take your reed off and clean out your mouthpiece.
When you play the clarinet your reed and the inside lining of the mouthpiece get wet. If you leave them in this state, they can get quite smelly – I’ve even seen a couple of mouldy reeds in my time working as a clarinet teacher!
Your reed will last much much longer and sound much much better if you allow it to dry out and keep it and the mouthpiece clean and hygienic!
Accessories for Clarinets
There are all sorts of accessories on the market for woodwind and clarinet players. In fact, there is a very useful Ted’s List article which highlights a few of the best ones! It is very easy to get a bit carried away with gadgets and gizmos.
There are five accessories which we consider essential for any clarinettist; these are a cleaner, a reed and reed case, cork grease and a music stand.
DESIGNED FOR: Keeping your clarinet and mouthpiece clean
FEATURES: includes everything you need to keep your instrument in top condition
OTHER INFO: Includes Cork Grease, Cloth and Brushes
