Area College Grad Seeks to Help Young Clarinetists Online

You’re in the fourth grade, and it’s time to learn to play a musical instrument. You take up the clarinet because that’s what your dad played, and his school clarinet is in the cellar, in pieces and safely ensconced in little foam compartments covered in crushed blue velvet. You open the case, and it looks and smells like 1978.

Year after year you practice songs for the school concerts and do what you can with the little plastic clarinet, and when you’re in high school, your friend, a junior, suggests you try out for regionals. Gulp. Really? Regionals? It’s worth a shot on your friend’s and your teacher’s say-so. To get you ready, your parents pay the sax teacher at the local music shop to coach you. You cram in the practices with Mr. Encouragement, who calls your instrument the black agony stick.

You try it, and while your parents are outside the audition room at Avon High School, the bell of your little black horn falls off the clarinet and lands on the floor. You don’t make it to regionals this year, but you come close--close enough to convince you that perseverance will pay off. Your passion for music has been kindled.

Serious Online Music Coaching Makes a Difference
Your mom contacts the band director at the high school where she used to work in North Carolina, and he puts her in touch with a clarinetist who teaches at another school in the district. Now it happens: FaceTime lessons with the phone on the music stand, phenomenal coaching by teacher Pam Day, and a better clarinet. This dedicated online teacher, who respects her instrument, coaches you until you make it all the way to Nationals in your junior year.

This is six years before Covid-19 sent us all hither and yon and grappling with video conferencing as a way of getting business done.

You major in music in college, practicing up to five hours a day, and become Eastern Connecticut State University's first four-time participant in the New England Intercollegiate Band, where you earn principal clarinet and win a solo competition. You study with Christopher Howard of the United States Coast Guard Band and play several concerts with members of that service band.

Previous Online Learning Makes the Transition Smooth in 2020
When the pandemic sends you home, you continue your clarinet and piano lessons on Skype. You graduate college with a Zoom send-off from the music department, and you look forward to continuing your music studies with the Clarinet Studio at University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Preparing for that transition, you have master classes with your UNCG professor on Zoom. When you decide to defer for a year, he tells you you have your place at the school; they want to work with you. Do what you have to do.

FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom have been essential tools in your development as a musician because you put them to work for you. You have the passion for your art and the drive to succeed, so you take whatever tools are available and put them to work for you. No down time, no despair. You work it. You record yourself with the Acapella app, and your friends record you playing with them using the same medium.

Online Learning Is a Great Opportunity if You Work It
And now you want to help others. “Want to create the Acapella video that will make your mom proud? Want to get all the squeaks out of the holiday tunes before the winter concert? Want to be ready to play music for real when the pandemic passes?” Carlson asks. “Together, online, like I started, we can get you all tuned up.”

Carlson says, “Despite the uncertainty of our times, you can follow your passion for the clarinet with online instruction in the comfort of your home and at your convenience. We can work together as much or as little as you want. With my support, you’ll grow as a musician and be ready for the next challenge when musicians can be together again.

Contact Adella Carlson at adellacarlson@musician.org to discuss your musical needs and arrange a sample lesson.