Clarinet n. An instrument of torture operated by a person with cotton in his ears. There are two instruments worse than a clarinet – two clarinets. — Ambrose Bierce
Clarinets, like lawyers, have cases, mouthpieces, and they need a constant supply of hot air in order to function. — Victor Borge
I understood that if I wanted to work, the saxophone was the main instrument. The clarinet was what we call a double. — Lee Konitz
I play drums, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, french horn, piano. — Norman Wisdom
The ability to play the clarinet is the ability to overcome the imperfections of the instrument. There's no such thing as a perfect clarinet, never was and never will be. — Jack Brymer
Benny Goodman was one of the big influences as a clarinet player. That's why I wanted the clarinet. — Lee Konitz
Beauty and fullness of tone can be achieved by having the whole orchestra play with high clarinets and a carefully selected number of piccolos. — Gustav Mahler
I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less. — Artie Shaw
I was improvising before I was reading music. I was just trying to play things on the clarinet by ear. I think my ear is one of my greatest assets. — Pete Fountain
If you like an instrument that sings, play the saxophone. At its best it's like the human voice. — Stan Getz
The oboe's a horn made of wood.
I'd play you a tune if I could,
But the reeds are a pain,
And the fingering's insane.
It's the ill wind that no one blows good. — Ogden Nash
The violin - that most human of all instruments. — Louisa May Alcott
Play the flute of felicity! You, yourself, are the melody. — Rumi
The potential for the saxophone is unlimited. — Steve Lacy
I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks. — Stevie Ray Vaughan
Short Clarinet Quotes
Notes, usually to be musical, have to move in or out. They don't sound like clarinets! — Ray Still
The oboe sounds like a clarinet with a cold. — Victor Borge
Ted Lewis could make the clarinet talk. What it said was put me back in the case! — Eddie Condon
Benny Goodman plays the clarinet. I play music. — Artie Shaw
No birdcall is the musical equal of a clarinet blown with panache. — Edward Hoagland
Now, I only play very occasionally, and in fact, more piano than clarinet or sax. — Alan Greenspan
I've always liked using flutes and clarinets. Any time I can use those, I'm really happy. — A.C. Newman
The clarinet is a musical instrument the only thing worse than which is two. — Ambrose Bierce
There are two instruments worse than a clarinet - two clarinets. — Ambrose Bierce
Clarinet Image Quotes
Clarion Quotes
The nightingale has a lyre of gold, The lark's is a clarion call, And the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute, But I love him best of all. For his song is all the joy of life, And we in the mad spring weather, We two have listened till he sang Our hearts and lips together. — William Ernest Henley
High hearts are never long without hearing some new call, some distant clarion of God, even in their dreams; and soon they are observed to break up the camp of ease, and start on some fresh march of faithful service. — James Martineau
The BBC has the obligation to think big. And at the moment, that clarion call sounds an uncertain note to me. — Jonathan Dimbleby
The click [of a light switch] is the modern triumphal clarion proceeding us through life, announcing our entry into every lightless room. — Ben Katchor
Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim. One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name. — Walter Scott
Every ambitious would-be empire, clarions it abroad that she is conquering the world to bring it peace, security and freedom, and it is sacrificing her sons only for the most noble and humanitarian purposes. That is a lie; and it is an ancient lie, yet generations still rise and believe it. — Taylor Caldwell
The reformer is one who with clarion voice will call the ministry back to it's knees. — Edward McKendree Bounds
The wind,
Tempestuous clarion, with heavy cry,
Came bluntly thundering, more terrible
Than the revenge of music on bassoons. — Wallace Stevens
Every ambitious would-be empire, clarions it abroad that she is conquering the world to bring it peace, security and freedom, and it is sacrificing her sons only for the most noble and humanitarian purposes. That is a lie; and it is an ancient lie, yet generations still rise and believe it. — Henry David Thoreau
Knowledge ... shall always bear witness like a clarion to its creator. — Leonardo da Vinci
The soprano has all those other instruments in it. It's got the soprano song voice, flute, violin, clarinet, and tenor elements and can even approach the baritone in intensity. — Steve Lacy
So the ideology was that: use sounds as instruments, as sounds on tape, without the causality. It was no longer a clarinet or a spring or a piano, but a sound with a form, a development, a life of its own. — Luc Ferrari
I got in the school band and the school choir. It all hit me like a ton of bricks, everything just came out. I played percussion for a while, and stayed after school forever just tinkering around with different things, the clarinets and the violins. — Quincy Jones
The saxophone was created to mimic the human voice and I think that's why I gravitated toward the saxophone eventually. I'd loved the clarinet, but there's something about the saxophone that just grabs you. — Matana Roberts
When I first met Benny Goodman he wouldn't talk about anything but clarinets, mouthpieces, reeds, etc. When I tried to change the subject, he said 'But that's what we have in common. We both play clarinet.' I said, 'No, Benny, that's where we're different. You play clarinet, I play music.' — Artie Shaw
I was not a band geek, per say. But me and my two older sisters played instruments, so I would come home and my sister Dana would be playing the clarinet or playing the piano, and I would play the saxophone, my other sister would be singing, my mom would be singing. I was not afraid to be musical. That was not something that I thought was uncool. — Miles Teller
Listening to Benny [Goodman] talk about the clarinet was like listening to a surgeon get hung up on a scalpel. — Artie Shaw
It (the double-clarinet in India) was primarily used for snake charming, since the snake would do almost anything to get the Indians to stop playing it. — Victor Borge
I've played the clarinet since I was a kid. I love to sing, but I'm not much of a singer. Let's say that when it comes to vocalizing, I have the soul of Billy Bigelow but the voice of Jigger Cragan. — Stephen Lang
Actually, when I was very young, first starting to play, I think I probably listened more to clarinet players than to saxophones. — Gerry Mulligan
I've been writing music since I was 9. I took harmony and counterpoint classes when I was studying the clarinet. So, I've been writing for an awfully long time. It just became part of everyday life. — Howard Shore
A lot of the musicians asked me if when I hit my high-Cs on the records I had a clarinet take the notes. Some [thought] I had invented some kind of gadget so I could play high register. They weren't satisfied until they handed me a trumpet that they had with them and had me swing it. Then they cheered. — Louis Armstrong
Many were starting to use computerized synthesizers & drum machines to produce an entirely new style of music. It was being punted by the critics that the guitar was old hat; I was reminded of the way my father & his clarinets were written off in the late Fifties. — Pete Townshend
I spend a lot of time idly. I go to sporting events, play my clarinet. I practise. But if you work every day, a certain amount on a steady basis, the work accumulates. — Woody Allen
I always imagined music trapped inside my clarinet, not trapped inside of me. But what if music is what escapes when a heart breaks? — Jandy Nelson
It is possible to enjoy the Mozart concerto without being able to play the clarinet. In fact, you can learn to be an expert connoisseur of music without being able to play a note on any instrument. Of course, music would come to a halt if nobody ever learned to play it. But if everybody grew up thinking that music was synonymous with playing it, think how relatively impoverished many lives would be. Couldn't we learn to think of science in the same way? — Richard Dawkins
I started off playing the clarinet, after I was inspired by listening to my dad's Benny Goodman records. — Alvin Lee
We decided to do some of Merle's things with modern instrumentation. We used a flute, a bass clarinet, a trumpet, a clarinet, drums, a guitar, vibes and a piano. — Tennessee Ernie Ford
You can sweat by not practicing or you can pick up your clarinet. There's good sweat and there's bad sweat. — Eric Maisel
I was already playing the clarinet and the piano. My father's a piano player. But I wanted to play in a funk band, and the clarinet wasn't fit. So you was "Hey, man, can I sit in?" They're like, "No, man." So I started fooling around with the bass. — Marcus Miller
When I was a little kid, I saw a guy with one of those cancer clarinets, and I flipped out. I totally flipped out. I said to my mom, "Mom, what is that thing?" And she happened to know, too, which was the oddest thing. She said, "That's a Bell Telephone artificial larynx, for men that had their voice boxes removed because of cancer." I was like, "Wow." And I couldn't wait to get one. I didn't get one 'til I was all grown up and everything. — Billy West
I had a great year with Bob Mintzer [at Laguardia School of Arts]. Bob is great. We could have just brought the clarinet or dealt with classical stuff, or brought the flute or just dealt with comp and arranging... what a great teacher. — Jon Gordon
[I wanted] to play the clarinet well so I could be in Duke Ellington's band, but that's now impossible. — Nat Hentoff
[Some] times I'd have sound but no image. When Patti [Smith] was singing with her guitar, or doing something amazing with her clarinet, I'd just mess around and record the sound. So we'd use those sounds as another layer in the film [Dream of Life]. — Steven Sebring
I just love crafting and shaping sounds. Actually, many of the sounds that I work with start off as organic instruments - guitar, piano, clarinet, etc. But I do love the rigidity of electronic drums. — Imogen Heap
I played the clarinet, and my sister played the violin... If wed had the discipline and the passion, maybe we could have been good. — Sara Zarr
In real life I'm not the character I play in my films. I'm reasonably competent, I work very hard, I'm disciplined, I lead a very middle class life. I work in the mornings, I have lunch, I practise my clarinet, I go to the movies, I eat out in restaurants or watch ball games on television or at the ball games. — Woody Allen
In Conclusion
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