Click To Hear The $5.00 Clarinet!

Closing Notes

How did this come about?

Let us begin by clearing the air. I'm not a clarinet player. I'm not a reed player. I'm not a wind player. I'm barely a guitar player. And a musical illiterate at that. So what business do I have telling you how to make a $5.00 clarinet?

Because with this simple instrument, I can almost fake it!

Some real comments I've recieved:

 
"It sounds like Benny Goodman" (notice who gets credit for sounding like Benny Goodman)

"It sounds like a real instrument!" (perhaps because you've never heard a water pipe like it!)

"You sound like that Kenny G. tune!" (now that one cut deep *sob*)

I first made this instrument shortly before New Year 1999. And it took all of five minutes to learn "Auld Lang Syne" and play it convincingly in time for the new year. It's been hard to put down since.

I credit the article "Sugar Belly" Walker and the Bamboo Saxophone by Brian Wittman and Bart Hopkin as inspiration for getting my interest in reed instruments. The recording by Sugar Belly in the book, GRAVIKORD, WHIRLIES AND PYROPHONES, by Bart Hopkin just blew me away(as did the other recordings in the book's CD).

Playing

The $5.00 clarinet is primarily a diatonic instrument in the key of C. However, after playing it for a couple months, I've found that I can get most accidentals by either cross-fingering, half-holing, or lip techniques. Keep in mind that these clarinets have so much handwork in them that cross-fingering, half-holing, or lip techniques which work on one instrument may not work so well on another. Experiment for yourself to see which methods work better for your instrument.

Being a cylindrical reed instrument, overblowing will get a note a 12th higher, not an octave higher. This may throw you off if you're used to an instrument like a tinwhistle, or a conical instrument like the sax. As a consequence, it may be difficult to get a greater range than an octave plus three notes. However, it's not impossible. You can use one of the thumbholes as a register hole, allowing you to overblow even higher notes for a range of two unbroken octaves. If you're really adventuresome, you can fiddle with the hole size and placement to aid in your own playing technique. Go wild. Make a web page showing how you did it or email me.