• Jettel Boot Camp

    By now, dedicated readers of Jenny Clarinet should know about my love for scales. I could practice them all day, every day without ever getting bored, and my scale book of choice was Baermann…until I discovered the Jettel scale exercises! Don’t get me wrong – there will always be a special place in my heart for Baermann, but the Jettel scales offer a wider variety of patterns (including both melodic and harmonic minors) and are devilishly difficult. I’ve worked on a few isolated scale patterns and exercises, but it’s much more fun when we all suffer work through the Jettel together! I’ve created the Jettel Boot Camp for September 2019,…

  • How and Why You Should Do an Annual Clarinet Checkup

    Life is busy. I get it. One day you start playing clarinet, and before you know it, ten, twenty, thirty, plus years have passed. Once you find your groove, it’s easy to coast along on autopilot without always making conscious decisions (or efforts) like you used to. It’s important to take some time every year to stop, re-evaluate, and make sure that you and your clarinet are both performing at optimal levels. I like to call this a clarinet checkup.  Here’s a checklist so you can schedule your own clarinet checkup: Is all my equipment still performing at the highest level? I’m not a big gear-head or equipment junkie –…

  • 100 Famous Female Clarinetists Throughout History

    Any time is a great time to celebrate all the amazing women in the music industry. However, it seems extra appropriate to acknowledge some of them during the year of the woman, commemorating 100 years of women’s voting rights in the United States. As always, this list is not intended to be comprehensive. I’m always interested in hearing your suggestions for those you’d add to your own list, so please leave comments below with your ideas! If you’re interested, I also wrote a more detailed description of some famous female clarinetists throughout history. Mariam Adam Michelle Anderson Laura Ardan Lori Ardovino Diane Barger Ivy Benson Jessica Bessac Deborah Bish Romy…

  • 19 More Things You Didn’t Know About Jenny Clarinet

    It’s been over 4 years since I began Jenny Clarinet, and I’m so happy and humbled by our little clarinet community we’ve created. I’ve gotten many more followers recently, so I thought I’d take a break from clarinet pedagogy and share a few facts about myself so you can get to know me better! (I did this a few years ago, and you can read that here.) I always enjoy getting to know my fellow clarinetists, so be sure to leave a comment or contact me to introduce yourself! I speak English and French, and I’m trying to learn German. I would also like to learn Icelandic and Faroese one…