For those of you who played clarinet and trombone...i know, wierd Question?

Question

Which one is harder to play? I am Switching from Trombone to Clarinet. (because there is 3 trombones in my band and only 1 clarinet)

Answer 1

to be honest with you, oth are pretty difficult in there own way..

clarinet is simple in fingerings, you practice for a couple months and you get the fingerings down like nothing.. the hard part of the clarinet is getting the proper sound, or the sound your looking for. for example once you hit the high register of the clarinet, which is the double high d and above or just in general all the keys, its very hard to get a proper sound from the clarinet because you have to set the right embouchure, the right amount of air&support from your diaphragm, and alternative keys for different types of sound.

trombone is also simple in fingerings, but hard in the aspect that its a brass instrument and has the vibration mouthpiece, and when you have runs, like 16th note runs or even fast 8th note runs, its hard because of the slide positionings, for one note you might be in first position then next in seventh position or sixth position.

so both intruments are hard to play, in fact every single intrument is hard to play, it takes extreme dedication and lots of failure to learn even the simplest of instruments..

Answer 2

Well....I have taught elementary and middle school band and through my experience with beginners

clarinet is easy in the beginning but gets harder later on (when learning to cross the break).

trombone is harder in the beginning but gets easier later on.

clarinet is more expensive (buying reeds)

trombone is the most different of all band instruments (because of the slide)

Whatever you decide, give it time and remember to practice!

Answer 3

Hi Jaz,

In regard to the level of difficulty,  I would assume that, with all of the fingerings you must learn, that the clarinet is more of a challenge...  but so what????

You are going to be taking lessons, and learning your new clarinet skills day-by-day just as you did trombone.  You learned to play trombone, and you will learn to play clarinet and soon you will know how to play two musical instruments.  :))    Starting private lessons is a plus for you, as you will pick it up faster and with less bad habits.

Perhaps, after playing both, you will decide you enjoy one over the other... but at least you have a choice because of your experience.

Hats off to you for challenging yourself to learn such a completely different instrument than the trombone!!  I think you are going to  have fun.

Thank you for reading and

Good luck with it.