Clarinet Intro

That being said about the trumpet, I've started to play my wife's clarinet.  I like to do things my wife can do for two reasons:

1. Because I want to do everything she can do, and
2. Because when I do those things, it kind of re-ignites her desire.  See, right now, she's practicing rudiments.

I should also mention that she teaches a band class at the local elementary school, and that my 9yo daughter is also learning clarinet in that band class.

So I've played about 5 times now, for maybe half an hour a piece.  I've gone through most of my daughter's level 1 book.  I find it odd, though, as I'm used to the trumpet, for the following reasons:

1. I have this big old welt/callous on my right thumb
2. On the trumpet, you're encouraged to press the keys with the fingers bent so the fingers go straight up and down, whereas on the clarinet, you need to keep the fingers straight(-er)
3. It seems you follow a different pattern when raising a half step than on the trumpet - following similar patterns on the trumpet would take you down half a step.

So right now, I can go from G below middle C to A above the staff.  My wife says it's not because of any natural clarinet talent (bah!) but because I already have an embouchure developed.  However, it takes me about 30 seconds to transition over the break.  For instance, I tried "Star Spangled Banner" in C, and it took me about 10 minutes for all the times I had to do that.