New player with comments and thoughts

[xeys...@gmail.com]

I recently(yesterday) purchased a new clarinet from a music shop in
town. It is a Leblanc Liberty LCL-500. It's wood, and looks nice. I
last played flute 15 years ago. I tried bass guitar, but decided it
wasn't for me, and am in the process of selling it. I've sort of been
on a quest to get back into music, and hopefully it's over. SO.... I
went in, tried to blow both the sax and clarinet.got sounds out of
both on my first go. The shop guy was very surprised, and said that
supposedly most people can't make it play at all when they pick it up.
Not sure how true that is, probably just buttering me up, right? So, I
realized that my concerns about sealing up the holes with my fingers
were over(I had worried about it a bit when making an instrument
choice when I was 15, and obviously my fingers are bigger), And REALLY
liking the tone I was getting, I picked it up, some extra reeds, and a
band method 1 book. Kind of silly to start learning this at 36, and
about to get married for the second time, but I'm enthusiastic. One
thing I noticed, was that when I was a little mad and angry, I
couldn't get the sound, but when I closed my eyes, and had a just "let
it be, kind of zen meditation" moment, it all came out, clear as a
bell, and pretty focused on tone(Is this the way it always is? Do
people kind of have to go to their happy place, and then the tone
comes?). That is, until my mouth muscles gave out. I started leaking
air too bad to continue after about 30 mins of that. My fiance was
impressed. Sorry for the disjointed thoughts, but it seems like I can
"do" this. I haven't felt like this since I first picked up a flute
head joint at 15. I'm excited, and wanted to share! I welcome any
thoughts and comments!

[Dan van Ginhoven]

Congratultaions to your new start at playing.
To start blowing a clarinet, is lika start running.
The first times it is just a bloody pain.
But as you get stamina, in the end you enjoy running.
You need to practise your muscles, never let up for any longer peroid
/dg