With so many clarinet books available to purchase it is often difficult to know where to start and what books to buy as a beginner.
When I first started learning the clarinet it was much easier. Every town had a music shop that you could pop into, browse the store and ask for specialist advice on what to buy. Nowadays, many people don’t have access to a local music shop. Some don’t even have a local music teacher to get the best advice at the early stages. Therefore trying to navigate the internet to find the right clarinet books can be confusing.
Without specialist advice, this is where beginners generally make their first mistake. They download music off the internet or from Youtube that they recognise. Yet, without realising it, they often find it far too hard for a beginner. Easy done if no one is explaining it!
In this blog I am going to share my thoughts on some of the books I like to use for teaching beginner clarinetists of all ages.
Abracadabra for Clarinet by Jonathan Rutland
Abracadabra for Clarinet is a great beginner book which is perfect for individual clarinet lessons and solo playing. It perfectly guides students through the early stages of playing and reading solo clarinet music. It covers all the lower register of the instrument in the first half of the book. The second half of the book from song 83 onwards is focused on playing over the break and in the higher register.
There is a lovely variety of genres and styles of music that caters for all tastes and at the back of the book there are beginner level scales and arpeggios for students to master to help with technique.
What I really like is that when a new concept or note is added there is always a piece that allows you to practice that concept. There are good, clear diagrams and notes explaining clarinet fingerings and music theory throughout.
Most of the pieces in the book are already fairly well-known by children, with songs like “Puff the Magic Dragon”, “Ode to Joy” and “Daisy Bell” as firm favourites. The book does come with CD accompaniments which are fantastic. The only downside is that most homes no longer have access to CD players. This can mean that the CDs are not always used to their full potential in assisting clarinetists with practising and playing with accompaniments. Hopefully in the not-to-distant future when a new edition comes out, the recordings will be accessible on-line as play-alongs.
The only other thing to note, is the book uses British musical terms for beat values. So anyone following the American system of beat value names, just needs to be aware of that. There are many resources out there that give the comparisons but here is a quick guide:
Rubank Elementary Method Clarinet by N. W. Hovey
This is a good elementary method book and which I believe is a great resource to have alongside any beginner solo book. The focus of this book is predominantly on developing good clarinet technique through short study exercises. The book focuses on musical areas such as scales, beat values, rhythm reading, articulation and tone control. All of these are essential skills for clarinetists who play in both band and solo playing. The book is part of a series and you can go on to the intermediate and advanced books.
Although this book is not as colourfully designed inside as many other books are on the market, I am always pleasantly surprised at how much my beginner students enjoy playing the exercises in this book and it has become a firm favourite.
Essential Elements for Band – Bb Clarinet by Hal Leonard
This is a commonly used book within the band classroom and many people recommend this book for individual lessons and this still tends to be a band teacher favourite.
There are other beginner band series on the market. These include Standards of Excellence by Bruce Pearson, Traditions of Excellence by Pearson and Nowlin and a fairly new method book called Habits of a successful Beginner Band Musician by Rush and Scott.
The main difference between the band clarinet books and solo books is that the band book has been designed for clarinet students to learn alongside other band instruments at the same time, generally in a large group setting. Therefore the book doesn’t always cover all the essential basics in the same order or method as perhaps a solo clarinet book does. Sometimes the books stay on the same few notes for a very long time before introducing a new note. Very normal in the band room but can be a bit limiting for those students who are practising a lot outside of class or having individual clarinet lessons.
There are lots of recognisable melodies in the Essential Element book that many students enjoy playing and the diagrams and layout are easy enough to follow. Hal Leonard Publishing company also has Essential Elements Interactive tools and resources on their website for free which students have access to it when they purchase the book.
In truth, I don’t tend to use this book too much for individual lessons because I think the Abracadabra for Clarinet book stretches the solo student at a quicker pace. This means the clarinetist has the opportunity to play a decent amount of solo music with in the first few weeks of learning and learn a good number of notes quickly.
Also, if a student is learning in band and then covering the band method book pieces in individual classes with you, it is easy to speed ahead through the book and then the student can find band class not as enjoyable because they are already ahead of the game.
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