I would think wood or plastic is dependent upon the situation in which you're going to be playing. As a example: most marching band players, or those who use their instrument outdoors tend to have plastic for two basic reasons. One is the lighter weight when carrying, while the other is damage control, ie: rain, snow and such doesn't do wooden instruments any good.
On the other side of the coin: a lot of classical, orchestra, ensemble and indoor players use wood for the same above opposite reasons, ie: the instrument isn't under the same rugged outdoor demands as the plastic. I'm NOT saying you won't see marching bands with players using wood, or indoor players using plactic.
There are others, like myself, who have both. In my case however, I own three different types. I have a "plastic" Vito, a "wooden" Noblet' Paris and a all "metal" Orpheum.
As far as a comparable wood\plastic price: the wood can be anywhere from around $300-350 to several hundred dollars and even a couple of thousand more. It all depends upon make and model.
As far as Yamaha clarinets.. don't know a thing about them. I'm a Leblanc Noblet' man myself. Hope the above helps.
try all he one with in your budget and decide which you like, but quite often a more expnsive plastic one (say a buffet)which a realy good mouth peice with be better then a cheaper wooden (like a cibali or venus) so try them all and ee what you like (some music shops will be happy for you to stand in there shop for an hour with a couple pieces of music that you know and give them all a play test, if you try all then narrow it down to 3-5 you realy like then conduct a blind test using scales or somthing you know well (but if you chooe that make sure you bring 4 or 5 of your broken in reeds with you) but good luck choosing
hi um wood defitnitly I may be in 7th grade but I hav a wood clairent in band I'm first chair 2 meh happy :D but also get vandoren reeds those r amasing and a rovner ligature I hav both they're amazing really enhancements help really I've been first chair 4 3 years woods expensive and hard to take care of but its worth it really :D
keagalin haz spoken phasha....
Only buy a wood clarinet if you are really serious about continuing past high school. They can be very expensive and hard to take care off. Plastic yamahas can run up to $800 or so new while wooden yamahas are considered professional level- ylc650 runs about $1200, and then there are yamaha customs which run from $1800-$5000 which are all made of grenadilla wood. Wooden clarinets have a better tone then plastic clarinets. Also, do not buy a wooden clarinet thinking that it will 'make you better', they are professional clarinets for a reason. If you buy a professional clarinet and do not have the skill level to play on it you may not do the instrument justice and find that it will be much harder to play on than a plastic or resotone clarinet.
My advice is to go to a local music store that stocks wood and plastic/resotone clarinets and ask them if you can try them out. Most music stores will let you try them if they know you're interested.
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