clarinets • resource for amateur musicians
My love for the clarinet began nearly 50 years ago in Mapleville Grammar School, an eight-grade, four-room schoolhouse in northern Rhode Island. Musicians from the Rhode Island Philharmonic visited our school one day and I was enthralled. I ran home excitedly announcing to my mother that I was going to play the clarinet.
Probably like you, I did not grow up to be a professional clarinetist. Instead, I’ve played with community bands, small orchestras, quartets, and trios made up largely of amateur musicians. I currently play clarinet with the Wakefield Concert Band. I also designed and maintain the band’s web site.
My day jobs have included medical research, college and university teaching, and computer journalism. I was honored when asked to write an 80th birthday tribute to Avrahm ‘Abe’ Galper, former principal clarinetist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, for The Clarinet, the official publication of the International Clarinet Association (Vol. 28/4, September 2001).
In my spare time, I enjoy oil painting (with clarinet reeds), and refurbishing old clarinets (read more below).
But my childhood dream was to be a busker (street musician). In the photo below of the Westerly Band I actually came close. I’m under the Jackeroos sign, to the left of the sax player in the photo, trying to play and march at the same time.
Westerly Band 1996 Memorial Day Parade
Mystic, Connecticut
Clarinet CPR
As a hobby, I am learning to repair dead and walking-wounded clarinets. In the past ten years or so, I have sold several dozen refurbished clarinets to promising young students and adult amateur musicians.
Helping neglected clarinets to make music again is gratifying for several reasons. For one thing, my efforts help to keep decent instruments from being turned into table lamps. For another, I am able to keep my own clarinets in good playing condition.
Repairing old clarinets is very rewarding emotionally. See some of the clarinets I have brought back from the abyss - or, more truthfully, from eBay or local yard sales. (I did restore a totally moldy clarinet from the local dump once, but that’s a story for another time.)
Below is a photo of a closed-hole or plateau system clarinet that I renewed from a very distressed condition. I sold the clarinet to a woman whose arthritis had curtailed her clarinet playing. With no ring keys to worry about covering, she was able to play again thanks to this instrument.
Normandy Resonite
Plateau System Clarinet
(no ring keys)
Stay Tuned (bad pun)
Check back occasionally for news about additional resources and information for amateur clarinet players of all ages.
Thanks for visiting!
smitten at an early age...
As an amateur clarinet player, I have enjoyed a life long love affair with our favorite instrument. I’ve met some wonderful professional players including the late Abe Galper, who was principal clarinetist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I was honored to have helped Abe publish several clarinet books before he passed away.
Cindy with Michael Rusinek, Principal Clarinetist, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Kingston, RI
Summer 2002
© 1996 - 2012 Cynthia E. Field, Ph.D. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Gotta love those 60s eyeglass frames, huh?
That’s me playing clarinet with friends from my high school orchestra at St. Francis Xavier Academy in Providence, RI
The 1 of 52 Hunger Network • Musicians & Artists Fight Hunger
More than a decade ago I helped to design the web site for The 1 of 52 Hunger Network. This initiative was the brain-child of Stephen M. Maciel who envisioned, long before the current economic crisis, a nationwide network of artists and musicians fighting hunger. To this day, artists and musicians belonging to The 1 of 52 Hunger Network all over the country raise awareness, funds, and nonperishable food for those in need.
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