Customer Reviews

Benny Goodman's Clarinet Method

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While many books on the clarinet are out on the market, it is a rare opportunity to experience one from a clarinetist with the fame, renown and talent of Benny Goodman. This short method book presents brief articles discussing basic techniques, methodology and even a little clarinet history. Mr. Goodman's knowledge and encouragement to the student are presented in a straightforward, no-nonsense style. The method book presents listings of all of the major and minor scales as well as over three dozen separate exercises working with timing, intervals, syncopation and more advanced chromatic work. The book also includes several of Mr. Goodman's solo works, including the accompaniments for the other instruments in the piece.

While the books is excellent in all respects, there are a couple of minor flaws. The first flaw is the lack of a fingering chart normally seen in most method books. This would indicate that Mr. Goodman and the subsequent editors felt the method was geared more towards intermediate and advanced students. This also leads to the second flaw, which is the focus on the more experienced student. The presentation of the material assumes the reader is familiar with the basics of music and is familiar with all of the basic fingerings of the clarinet's three major registers. The altissimo register and the upper clarion register are heavily emphasized and beginning students having issues with these registers would have difficulties without further technique development.

These very minor flaws do not detract from the fact that this small volume is a great method book for intermediate and advanced students and offers a rare insight into one of the greatest clarinet players of the 20th Century. Any serious clarinetist should pick up this book as they will be richly rewarded.

This is very good for intemediate players. Since I am relearning the clarinet after 52 years of not playing, I have found this very helpful as it keeps me reminded of the basics that I may be tempted to forget after such long time away from the clarinet. I do agree with the individual who wrote that it is not for the beginner. I hope this helpful to all who read it.

I guess I'm not very good at reading between the lines. I was looking for solos, not for methods. It was a very good method book, but I'd look elsewhere for clarinet solos next time (it had a few 'solos' in the back of the book, but they needed to be accompanied by a piano).

This book has a lot of exercises to practice clarinet and the information is enough about the clarinet perhaps it needs an introduction about how does it assemble and the maintenance