Finally set up my station :)

So since I've been doing work, work and MORE work, I decided I would get my clarinet practice corner ready so I can practice there. I practice in my room, but throughout the school year, my chair kind of was covered with boxes, clothes, and bags. So today, I decided to clean up my room, clear out my boxes, and get my practicing chair ready.

So above in my chair I play my clarinet in. Usually I would practice while sitting in an upright, hard chair, but those chairs always make my back tired-- especially when I practice for up to 2 hours! So in this picture you can also see my wire music stand. It is convenient because it folds up and I can take it wherever I need it!

This is my tuner. (Yes it has a tweety bird sticker on it!) But throughout the years of playing clarinet, I can't stress enough the importance of being in tune. Usually, I tune after I play a few scales just to make sure my clarinet is warmed up. Then, I tune and adjust my instrument so that I am perfectly in tune. The longer you play an instrument, the warmer it gets, since you're blowing warm air into it. So if your instrument is cold, your pitch will be flat (low), and if your instrument is warm, your pitch will be sharp (high). Being in tune with the tuner is not always what is important though, especially while playing in group or a band. It is important to listen around you and blend with the people sitting next to you, even if they're slightly out of tune-- at least you'll all be out of tune together!

Here is my bin of clarinet music. It's filled with sheet music, folders, and books I've accumulated over the years.

Of course! The most important part of playing clarinet-- reeds! You have to have reeds in order to play instruments such as clarinet, saxophone, and the double-reed instruments such as the oboe and bassoon. I usually buy two boxes of reeds at a time and test out all of them to find one that sounds excellent. A lot of times, only one or two reeds sound good out of the whole box!