One Handed Clarinet Team Update
The team has had our first meeting together and defined our goals and ambitions, breaking our challenge to making learning the clarinet as accessible as possible into three areas; supply and demand, small batch manufacture and a simplified instrument.
Clare, Peter and myself have been joined by the amazing Hannah Williams and Sophie Hyman who bring not only clarinet teaching and performance experience, but respectively band instrument supply (export) and model making to our team.
Having met together we have identified key areas to develop;
Supply Chain Through building understanding of ongoing demand for one handed instruments, we can facilitate Peter being able to batch manufacture instruments. Hannah will be key in identifying any parts that could be supplied through other makers, and Sharon and Sophie will both explore additive manufacturing and computerised milling to build up components.
Simplified Instrument and Repertoire For beginner players an alternative could be a simplified instrument that introduces embouchure and notation, which would be transferable to a standard or one handed clarinet as they progress. Having a low cost simplified instrument with suitable repertoire would mean a different approach to class music making but could improve the number of students learning. Peter is happy to explore this in two handed and one handed models, and we hope Clare will be able to leverage colleagues to help create repertoire or define the needs.
Teacher Confidence Learning a one handed instrument brings different challenges and will be unfamiliar to many teachers aiming to support new students. Peter will connect Clare with a former customer who has mastered the one handed clarinet and together draw up some support materials, which we may be able to develop through associates Sonia and Neville (TBC).
