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Clariphones and chalumeaux/s....help!

Hello everyone. I'm keen to get either a clariphone or a chalumeau as a somewhat simpler way to get some of the satisfaction of sax/clarinet playing (forgive me, you real players). I did use to play the clarinet to around Grade 5.

But...I'm confused about what to choose and then what music I can get for my choice. I seem to be veering from the Sans Clariphone (2.5 octaves) to the Tupian CU3 chalumeau, which has three double holes and is overblowable to get 15 tones. There's also a Sans chalumeau pro, which adds keys to increase the range.

Ideally, it should be simple-ish to play, music should be readily available and the tone should be warm and deep rather than recorder-like. Believe me, I know how many toes I'm steeping on here and how many hairs I'm making standing on end!

Any advice would be gratefully and humbly received.
 
Well, if you're referring to one of the various cheap instruments that have a reed -- Xaphoon, Nuvo DooD, Yamaha Venova, "pocket clarinet," etc. -- any of these will give you a basic idea of how to play an instrument with a single reed mouthpiece, but the jury's still deliberating on how much those skills will transfer to a clarinet or saxophone. I'm a little wary of telling someone to just get out and start playing one of these because it might teach you bad habits that will be hard to break.

The Tupian C3U chalumeau is 86 Euro and the Sans Clariphones are between 95 and 115 Euro. That's between $96 and $129 in US Freedom Units. That might be close to enough to get a clarinet rental and a few lessons (I haven't checked in several years on rentals and/or lessons).

As far as music is concerned, as long as you're either playing solo or with someone else that has the same instrument, it doesn't matter, provided you're in tune and can play as high as or low as the tune indicates. The Tupian is a C instrument, so you'd be able to play off of a piano melody line or a vocal line. If we were talking about Renaissance chalumeaux, then we'd be talking about a few other hurdles. The Sans website doesn't specifically state what pitch their instruments are in, but it does mention a range starting with "DO4," so I think it's probably also a C instrument.

Of the two instruments you mention, the Clariphone has a bigger range you can play. I think both sound like slightly out of tune clarinets :).
 
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