Petition for a child-friendly clarinet
Following the Swiss Clarinet Day held at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), the Swiss Clarinet Society is calling on instrument makers to bring a suitable instrument for early clarinet beginners onto the market.
In order to ensure a sensible introduction to the clarinet for younger children, a new instrument with an extended action, also tuned in high G, is needed between the so-called "tiger clarinet", which is tuned in high G, and the existing C clarinet.
Among other things, such a clarinet must be lightweight, with balanced weight ratios, it should do without certain delicate keys and be built so robustly that it remains playable for at least five years. Such a clarinet would be in the natural range of the singing children and also have exactly the right length to allow the child to play in the ideal body position with perfectly bent arms.
In recent decades, there has been a clear decline in the number of young clarinets. While other instruments have experienced a real boom, the clarinet has been steadily losing ground. Clarinet teachers have been trying to counteract this for years with commitment and creativity, but the turning point has not yet been reached, the Swiss Clarinet Society continues.
