If the level of your talent, industry and ambition make you intent on artistry, then you have no choice but study with the great clarinetists.

To do so will demand the total commitment of your time, patience, spirit, energy and bank account.

Not to do so will condemn you to failure, because even if you could, it would take too long to learn everything on your own.

The mastery of the fundamentals of the technique of clarinet playing are everything--for the beginner and the artist. It is usually this fact that eludes both the amateur and the student during the intermediate years of development.

This lack of discipline, patience or understanding is the source of profound confusion, frustration and depression. Very few students have either the inner vision or the outer discipline to systematically approach and conquer the problems encountered in the study of the instrument or the music.

This is why the vast majority fail to become professional performers. If one begins serious study at the age of ten, the average length of apprenticeship will be fifteen years.

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