Hi Amanda. You`ve made a wise decision in picking the clarinet. Its the best instrument in the world.
My advice to you is to make sure you get a good mouthpiece and reeds and learn a good embouchure from day one. Sax players often think that their embouchure already good for clarinet and often its not. Its really hard to relearn something when you`ve got bad habits. Get your mouthpiece and reed set up organised straight away. Also, don`t think that the reed strength is a mark of how good you are. The principal clarinetist in my city`s symphony confesses to using firm Vandoren #2s and he`s awesome. Gert what suits the mouthpiece and the piece you`re playing to make sure you get the best sound possible.
Curl your right hand and make sure that your little fingers are curled and not flat. That will save a lot of hassles in fast passages in the clarino register. Keep your fingers really close to the keys which will also help. I`ve had to train myself out of `flapping` my fingers around and its hard to stop doing it.
Finally, just persevere. Clarinets are very finicky and will decide to give you trouble at short notice. Just stick with it and you`ll love it.
