If you’ve got a plastic clarinet that you’ve been playing for a few years, you might be thinking about upgrading to a wooden one. It’s important to think about this carefully before you do it, as it can be pretty expensive. I’ve outlined the reasons for upgrading and reasons why you might not want to upgrade, or could get away with sticking to the plastic clarinet you have.
Most people think about upgrading to a wooden clarinet at around grade 6 level as they produce a better sound in general. However, you should also be careful about upgrading – you don’t necessarily want to upgrade a good quality plastic clarinet for a bad quality wooden clarinet.
The level at which you need to think about upgrading your clarinet can be dependent on quite a few things. I would say the important things to consider are:
- Are you intending to carry on playing long term?
- What is your budget?
- What standard is the clarinet you’re currently playing?
- What type of music are you planning to use it for?
I’ll talk about each of these things in a bit more detail below. They all have some pretty important points and can hopefully help you come to a decision. I’m just going to give some facts and some things to think about to make the decision-making process easier. I won’t be saying that it’s essential to get a wooden clarinet if you’re going to progress, because some people just won’t be able to afford it.
Are you intending to carry on playing long term?
The is a very simple one really. If you don’t imagine yourself playing the clarinet long term, you probably don’t want to invest a lot of money in it. If you’re thinking about getting a wooden clarinet, it’s likely that this isn’t the case, but you do need to think about the level of commitment you’re prepared to give.
If the clarinet is for a child, it’s definitely important to establish how serious they are. Take the time to work out whether they actually want to carry on or whether they’re feeling like they should or are just copying what their friends are doing. If they don’t enjoy it all that much but are persevering for a while, chances are they will give up a couple of years down the line and you’ll have wasted a lot of money.
What is your budget?
Obviously, the budget you have available determines the standard of clarinet you are able to buy. You might want or need to spend some time saving before you can afford to buy a wooden clarinet at all. If you’re going to buy a new one, you’re likely to need at least £750. This will get you a lower end wooden clarinet, something like the Buffet E11.
Buying secondhand is possible too, but you’d need to make sure you had an idea of what you were looking for and could ensure that it would be good quality (see my other post for advice on buying secondhand instruments: https://woodwindgeek.com/which-woodwind-instrument-is-the-cheapest/).
If you have enough money to buy a wooden clarinet, but only something on the lower end, then you need to consider if this will be good enough for you. If you’re not going to play professionally, then it’s likely that this will be all you ever need. However, if you’re going to buy a low end wooden clarinet now and then find out in a couple of years time that you already need a more advanced one, it’s better to hold out a bit longer while you save more money. If not, you’ll waste quite a bit of money buying and selling an extra clarinet.
It’s important not to rush your decision. If you have a clarinet teacher that tells you as soon as you’ve finished grade 5 that you need a wooden clarinet, don’t be pushed into buying one straight away. While this around the standard that it would usually be advised to get a wooden one, you need to think whether if you waited a year, you could get something much better. It’s definitely possible to do grade 6 on a plastic clarinet.
What standard is the clarinet you’re currently playing?
The standard of your current clarinet will have a big impact on when you need to upgrade. If you have a higher end plastic clarinet, it’s likely that you can hold out a bit longer before upgrading, whereas if your clarinet is the cheapest one you could find, you’ll probably have to go for it a bit sooner.
Another thing, we also ties into budget, is that you don’t want to buy a wooden clarinet that’s not much of an upgrade from your plastic one. This is just a waste of money. For example, if you have a really good quality plastic clarinet, you don’t want to buy a really cheap wooden clarinet just because it’s wooden. Some wooden clarinets, particularly secondhand ones, aren’t an upgrade at all on a good quality plastic one. You also need to be really careful to check for things like cracks that affect tone and value.
What type of music are you intending to play?
It might seem irrelevant, but the type of music you’re intending to play could actually tell you what level of clarinet you need. For example, if you plan to play a lot of solo music, you’ll need a really nice tone. There is always going to be a limit to the quality of the tone you can produce on a plastic clarinet, so if you’re a soloist, a wooden clarinet is probably going to be required. If you’re a professional soloist, it’s essential.
If you want to play in bands or ensembles, it’s more dependent on your role. If you’re playing clarinet 3 in a big wind band, the chances of someone being able to pick out the fact that your clarinet is plastic under all the other noise is small. If you’re on clarinet 1, particularly if you’re a soloist, it’s much better to have a wooden clarinet, although the level of the band affects this. If it’s an amateur band that doesn’t play to a particularly high standard, it might not be necessary. Check out the clarinets the other players are using.
If it’s a professional band, you’ll almost certainly need one on any part, as you’ll have to audition and then it’s likely to become obvious. You’ll also be playing harder music in a professional band, and that means there’s more chance of you getting exposed passages even on clarinet 3. The quality of the sound of your clarinet will then become much more obvious and you won’t get away with a plastic one.
Summary
To sum up, all professional clarinettists will need a wooden clarinet. You will probably start being advised to get one after you’ve done grade 5, but you should think carefully about how serious you are about carrying on playing before making your decision. If you could afford a significantly better instrument in a year and are prepared to invest, it’s worth the wait. If you only ever intend to be an amateur musician in bands, you should be able to get away with a plastic clarinet, assuming it’s a decent quality one.