I have a friend in school who just started to play clarinet this year. I must say that he is doing really well. He just bought a new clarinet off the internet. It worked well for a while and then today when we got to school at 1:30 for report time and warm up he could not start on any low note beneath a middle c. He could go down from g and get all the notes down but if he just started on a low note it came out as thought the register key was open. I put my mouthpiece on it and tried and it did the same thing. I looked at the pads they seem to be in good shape and seem to be sitting well. If anyone has any clue as to what could be going on that would be great because we are in the process of learning marching band music for next year. Thank you in advance.

Check if there are any screws that may need to be tightened. You said that he bought it from the internet. Was it a cheap clarinet or a good, pricier one? If it was cheaper, it may need to go into a repair shop to get adjusted. I have heard lots of stories about cheap clarinets needing frequent adjustments.

Kimberly

hmm.. yea, it might be screws, that`s the most logical explanation, or maybe the pad that`s at the top of the bottom joint (above the Bb hole) is loose, you never know. just ask your band director if he knows what`s wrong, and if he doesn`t know, take it to a repair shop.

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate it. I will take a look at the screws and see if any are loose. I looked at all of the pads and they seem to be good. If that does not solve the problem I will tell him to take it to a repairman he trusts. We already asked our BD and he does not know. Not only that but he plays trombone.