Starting small: Clarinets for young children

For generations, there were few options available for small children wanting to learn the clarinet (as well as many other orchestral instruments). If you couldn't cover the clarinet's finger holes or support the weight of a standard B flat instrument, you were told to come back in a few years’ time – perhaps never to touch a clarinet again.

Recent years, however, have seen a rapid rise in the number of instruments and accessories designed specifically for young children. This article is a summary of the main options available for the clarinet, and I hope it might also highlight some of the key considerations surrounding instruments for younger learners in general.

• Name: Nuvo Clarinéo C clarinet
• Price: £120
• Hire: Multiple options available. Cheapest: £6 per month from Woodwind & Reed, Cambridge

Nuvo's range of colourful, plastic wind instruments include recorders, clarinets, flutes and now the jHorn, a plastic tenor horn reviewed in the December 2019 issue of MT. They are designed to withstand ‘extreme use’, confronting the likelihood that they'll be bashed or dropped by young children. The Clarinéo is made entirely from resilient materials (ABS and Delrin) and is 100% washable in warm soapy water – a feature Nuvo likes to demonstrate at trade events by submerging it in a fish tank!

Pitched in C, the Clarinéo weighs only 300g and features shorter finger stretches and smaller tone holes than a standard B flat clarinet, making it accessible to even the smallest of hands. It is also fully chromatic over a range of three-and-a-half octaves, albeit with some slightly adapted keywork. The Clarinéo is the successor to the Lyons C clarinet – one of the first attempts to produce a child-friendly clarinet for the school market in the early 90s. The inventor, Graham Lyons, later co-founded Nuvo Instrumental in 2005.

A key feature of the Clarinéo is that every key and component can be purchased separately. All the keys and levers simply ‘pop off’ for cleaning and replacement, which can be done easily by a parent or adult with no previous clarinet experience. The key springs are made from resin rather than steel, making them less likely to snap off when knocked or tampered with. However, this does mean the action on some keys can be a little clunky and unresponsive.

All instruments are supplied with a pack of Nuvo plastic reeds and one cane reed, all of which are smaller in size than a normal B flat clarinet reed. The hassle of attaching the reed to the mouthpiece – a common challenge for young learners – is eliminated by a clever snap-shut ligature unit, allowing the reed to be inserted and clamped into place.

The Clarinéo is designed for children as young as four years old and requires minimal lip pressure to produce a sound. This may lead to issues further down the line if a student becomes too accustomed to a particularly ‘soft’ pressure, which cannot easily be replicated on a B flat clarinet.

There's no denying that the Clarinéo doesn't really resemble a normal clarinet, which will bother some children more than others. Some might stubbornly insist that they are too grown-up for a kid's clarinet, while others will enjoy parading their funky-coloured instrument around the music room. Colour aside, if it's durability you're looking for, the Clarinéo is well worth a look. www.nuvoinstrumental.com

• Name: Aurus 4 CL

• Price: €34.95 (c. £31)

• Hire: n/a

The Aurus 4 CL is an innovative device to enable students to start playing with just the top half of the clarinet (see main image). It consists of a small extension that connects to the top joint of a B flat clarinet. It includes a number of features to promote good hand positioning in both hands, and it also extends the top joint range down to include an extra note (B).

Designed by German teacher Aurelian Kindilide, the device is intended to eliminate any unnecessary weight or tension in the right hand before learners are introduced to the fully assembled clarinet. Not only does this prevent students developing bad right-hand positioning, but it also means they are not distracted by any pain or discomfort while trying to get to grips with other basics, including mouth shape (embouchure), tonguing and left-hand positioning.

The Aurus 4 CL spreads the weight of the top joint between the right-hand thumb and fourth finger. It also features a finger rest for the left-hand pinky, designed to spread out the left-hand fingers and prepare a good pinky position when the lower joint is introduced later. Whatever your views on the pedagogical approach suggested by this product, its obvious advantage is that it negates the need to buy or rent a ‘starter’ clarinet, so long as a child's fingers can cover the left-hand holes of the upper joint of a normal B flat clarinet.

Another aspect of Kindilide's thinking is to encourage students to play in the higher register as soon as possible, developing good left-hand thumb positioning and contact with the register key early on, rather than having to adjust or relearn the correct position later. This does mean, however, that only a set of rather distant higher notes can be produced, without the intermediary notes produced by the other part of the instrument. Not all teachers will agree with this way of working, but it certainly expands the potential of the Aurus 4 CL and makes it an intriguing teaching tool.

A demonstration is available on YouTube (search ‘Aurus 4 CL’) and several teaching resources are available on request. www.aurus-for-clarinet.com

• Name: John Packer JP124 C clarinet

• Price: £229

• Hire: £15 per month from John Packer

Although C clarinets have been around for centuries and are smaller and lighter than B flat clarinets, their cost and low availability often ruled them out for beginners. Step forward John Packer and the JP124 – an affordable C clarinet aimed not just at young starters, but also orchestral players, teachers and folk musicians. Made from resin, this instrument features a full body of keywork and uses a normal B flat mouthpiece, which allows students to get used to a B flat embouchure while enjoying smaller finger holes and spacings. Like all C clarinets, the JP124 is arguably less sonorous and rich than a B flat clarinet, but for young starters, the physical accessibility far outweighs any timbral subtleties.

Pros and cons: starter clarinets pitched in C

Pros:

• Flexible for group teaching and ensembles involving non-transposing instruments.
• Beginners might find it confusing when the pitches of the B flat clarinet don't match the pitches of the piano or other instruments.
• ABRSM, Trinity College London and London College of Music now allow exam candidates to use C clarinets up to Grade 3.

Cons:

• The overwhelming majority of tutor books and educational materials are written for B flat clarinet.
• Not all teachers will have the time or resources to transpose B flat parts or piano accompaniments.
• C clarinets are potentially confusing for students in group lessons or ensembles if others are playing B flat clarinets.

The JP124 is remarkably close in quality to a professional instrument for a fraction of the price. Even after learners move to a B flat, the instrument could be used in numerous contexts throughout a clarinettist's life, unlike other starter instruments which quickly become obsolete. And if clarinet playing doesn't work out, it should be quite easy to sell the instrument to a new starter or adult player looking for an affordable C clarinet. www.johnpacker.co.uk

• Name: John Packer JP125 C clarinet

• Price: £210

• Hire: n/a

The JP125 is a reduced-keywork version of the JP124, neatly highlighting the pros and cons of the concept of reduced-keywork instruments in general. It has no ‘unnecessary’ keys at all – to lapse into clarinet specifics for a moment, low E and F sharp can only be played with the left little finger, while low F and G sharp can only be played with the right. Plus, in order to play low E or F sharp, the low F key must also be pressed down on the right hand. While the JP125 retains almost all the good qualities of the JP124, there's no doubt that this key mechanism makes some intervals quite tricky to play.

In more general terms, some might say that learning two fingerings for the same note unnecessarily complicates things, and that students will pick up alternative fingerings quite easily later on. Others, meanwhile, might argue that the full range of fingerings should be available from the start in order to form good habits. These are significant issues, so parents looking to buy the JP125 should seek the opinion of their child's teacher. www.johnpacker.co.uk

• Name: Howarth Junior MX B flat clarinet

• Price: £220

• Hire: £12 per month from Howarth

The Howarth Junior MX was developed with Lambeth Music Service for their ‘Musitrax’ whole-class ensemble teaching programme. The much-reduced keywork was designed around the limited set of notes required by the programme, consisting of the open finger holes plus ‘throat’ A and G sharp. This allows students to get used to putting a ‘normal’ clarinet together with less risk of twisting or snapping keys – particularly useful in the hands of smaller children.

Made from ABS resin, the Junior MX plays and feels like a normal B flat clarinet, albeit a lightweight version. The reduced keywork is obviously limiting, but the MX's simplicity also offers other advantages. Most keys on a standard clarinet are redundant in the early stages and simply get in the way or cause unnecessary distraction. Without them, some students might focus more fully on the task in hand and retain important information about breathing, embouchure and tonguing.

That said, the Junior MX does have a limited shelf life and is probably best seen as a rental option for students in the early stages. For schools or organisations who loan instruments to young students, this would certainly be a worthwhile addition to the music cupboard. Despite the reduced keywork, the instrument still has the same finger hole spacing as a fully-keyed B flat clarinet, so parents or teachers should check that the child in question can reach the holes before considering it as an option. www.howarth.uk.com

• Name: Howarth Junior PLUS+ B flat clarinet

• Price: £260

• Hire: £14.50 per month from Howarth

The Howarth Junior PLUS+ is a more advanced version of the Junior MX. Its additional keywork allows a fully chromatic range of three octaves, which should take students to around Grade 3.

The layout of the keywork is the same as the John Packer JP125 but with one major difference – the low E and F sharp can be played without pressing down the low F key on the right hand, just like a normal clarinet. The same debate applies about the alternate pinky keys, but this mechanism certainly allows more possibilities than the JP125.

Essentially, the Junior PLUS+ is just a few keys away from being a normal B fl at clarinet. If a child can comfortably reach the tone holes of a B fl at clarinet but is looking for a lighter or cheaper option, the Junior PLUS+ is a well-built, reliable alternative.

Both the Junior MX and PLUS+ come with Howarth's ‘SimpleFit’ mouthpiece and ligature – a one-piece unit that positions the reed in the optimum position on the mouthpiece. This is a bit like the Nuvo design but for a standard-size mouthpiece and reed. As well as saving time in lessons (particularly in group teaching situations) this has the added benefit of preventing students from placing the reed incorrectly at home.

The SimpleFit can be bought separately for £49.50. It fits any B flat clarinet but is only optimised for D’Addario ‘Rico Orange Box’ reeds at present. www.howarth.uk.com

Wild card: E flat clarinet

With few other options available, young clarinettists of previous generations were often directed towards the smaller E flat clarinet. Even for professionals the E flat is quite a beast to tame. The holes and keywork may be closer together, but even the smallest fingers require a mature level of dexterity and familiarity with the clarinet to avoid pressing the wrong keys. Even with a softer reed, the embouchure pressure and air stream are quite different to the B flat clarinet.

John Packer offers an affordable E flat clarinet (JP 223) and even a reduced keywork version (JP 123), but even the smallest players can usually manage the weight and finger stretches of a C clarinet. If not, then an E flat clarinet is perhaps your only option.