Clarinet Lessons in Vermont

How clarinet learning works in Vermont

How does clarinet fit school music in Vermont?

Vermont districts provide annual learning opportunities in music, but each sets its own graduation requirements. Clarinet usually enters that school path through band: Essex Westford School District serves grades 4–12, while Burlington School District includes sixth graders in Edmunds Middle School band. That difference means you can plan for a younger start in Essex Westford and a middle-school entry in Burlington. Essex Westford also lets students borrow an EHS-owned instrument when buying one is cost prohibitive, subject to first-come, first-served availability.

Who runs what for Vermont clarinetists?

Vermont's student music opportunities are organized through two different associations, so the route depends on whether you want an ensemble audition or a solo performance. The Vermont Music Educators Association (VMEA) runs the Vermont All State Music Festival, including a concert band open to eligible full-time high school students through their schools. The Vermont Music Teachers Association (VMTA) offers a noncompetitive Spring Festival and competitive auditions for woodwind students. VMEA connects clarinetists with statewide school honors; VMTA gives individual players a separate performance route.

Auditions and events in Vermont

How does a clarinetist reach Vermont's top student honors?

A clarinetist’s statewide solo route runs through the Vermont Music Teachers Association’s competitive auditions for woodwind students: state winners advance to Eastern Division, whose winners move on to the Music Teachers National Association national competition. The 2026–27 Junior Woodwind competition includes clarinetists ages 11–14 as of January 1, 2027. For a school ensemble honor, the Vermont All State Music Festival offers a direct audition path into concert band, without preliminary regional rounds. The 2027 audition is January 16 at Spaulding High School, with the festival May 5–8 at Montpelier High School and U-32 High School.

What do auditions ask you to prepare?

For Vermont All State, a clarinetist prepares the full solo selection, two diatonic major scales chosen by the adjudicator, a chromatic scale, and short sight-reading. The solo is performed without accompaniment; the adjudicator may choose sections, and cadenzas and repeats are left out. The 10-minute instrumental audition allows one minute to review the sight-reading, and students must bring an original copy of the music. A polished audition piece usually takes three to six months of weekly lessons to build, giving you time to secure tone, notes, and a steady performance pace.

What else is there to enter?

Students who want a performance experience without a major honor audition can consider VMTA's Spring Festival, a noncompetitive recital-style event in late winter or early spring with written evaluations from teachers other than their own. The NEMFA Solo & Ensemble Performance Adjudication Festival offers another solo opportunity; its northern Vermont site is in White River Junction in December, and a student may play with a live or recorded accompanist or alone. The entry fee is $24 per student per adjudication. District III band festivals also serve middle- and high-school musicians in the Champlain Valley.

Homeschool and private school students

Vermont's All State Music Festival includes students from public and private high schools as well as state-approved home schools, so a homeschooled clarinetist can pursue the same high school ensemble honor. The student applies through a parent or home-school sponsor, who supervises the application; the school must pay the participation fee and the submitting music educator must be a current NAfME/VMEA member. VMTA's Spring Festival and competitive auditions offer additional individual-performance routes for students studying outside school band.

Starting at any age

Starting a child on clarinet

Clarinet often suits a child around age eight or nine, when steady breath and hand coordination are developing; readiness matters more than a birthday. In Essex Westford, band begins in grade four, while Burlington's Edmunds Middle School includes sixth graders, so a child can start privately before either school entry point. Weekly lessons build comfortable breathing, finger movement, and reading in manageable steps, then help a student carry those skills into band rather than learning the instrument and ensemble routines at once.

A teen in Vermont

A teen clarinetist can join school band and work toward Vermont's All State Music Festival, with one direct audition route rather than regional rounds. Eligible full-time high school students apply through their school, and the January audition leads to a May festival. Weekly lessons fit this calendar by making steady progress on the clarinet's tone, reading, and solo playing part of a routine alongside school rehearsals. A teen who wants an individual performance goal also has a woodwind competition route through VMTA and onward to regional and national competition.

Starting or coming back as an adult

It is not too late to learn or return to clarinet as an adult in Vermont. The Amateur Musicians Orchestra in South Burlington welcomes adult non-professional musicians without auditions, and the Vermont Philharmonic is a volunteer orchestra of professional and amateur players that welcomes interested musicians to make contact. A clarinetist can work toward playing comfortably in an ensemble, even if the first goal is rebuilding breath support and reading. Our teacher meets you where you are, so lessons can begin with the music and pace that feel useful to you.

Finding the right teacher

What should a good clarinet teacher do?

A good clarinet teacher listens closely to tone and breathing, then helps your or your child's fingers and reading develop without turning every lesson into an audition drill. Vermont students aiming for All State need a teacher who can build a solo and scales over time, while a young beginner or returning adult needs a pace that fits their confidence and goals. Training matters, but so does a teacher's way of explaining and encouraging. Every Lesson With You teacher holds at least a bachelor's degree in clarinet; you can choose one yourself or ask us to recommend a fit.

How do live online clarinet lessons work?

In a live Zoom lesson, your teacher can hear clarinet tone and articulation in real time and see your hands, posture, and music as you play. A quiet room, a music stand, and a camera angle that shows your face and fingers give the teacher enough to offer specific feedback; the clarinet packs away between lessons, so there is no special room to maintain. A student in Burlington and a student in Rutland get the same choice of teacher and the same weekly one-on-one lesson. With no commute and a consistent teacher who learns how you work, it is easier to keep a regular practice rhythm.

What $35 a week gets you at Lesson With You

A teacher with a degree in clarinetEvery Lesson With You clarinet teacher holds at least a bachelor's degree in clarinet.

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Clarinet in Vermont

Where to hear clarinet

For a chamber setting that includes winds, the Northeast Kingdom Classical Series in St. Johnsbury presents wind and baroque ensembles alongside string quartets, piano trios, duos, and solo artists during its 2026–27 season. Marlboro Music’s residency concerts include clarinetist Arthur Stockel and friends on February 7, 2027; concerts on the Marlboro campus are free, with reservations required. These give a student two different ways to hear clarinet in live performance, from chamber music to a featured artist.

Where to play with others

Clarinetists can join the University of Vermont Symphony Orchestra in Burlington, which is open to community members who play orchestral instruments as well as university students. That gives an adult or student a path into an orchestral setting alongside university musicians, distinct from a school band. The Vermont Youth Orchestra Association’s Da Capo Brass & Wind Ensemble in Colchester serves intermediate woodwind and brass students entering grades 6–9, offering a focused ensemble option for younger clarinetists.

Clarinet around Vermont, area by area

Burlington area

In Colchester, young clarinetists can look to the Vermont Youth Orchestra, which presents three major concerts each year at Burlington’s Flynn. Burlington’s Summer Concert Series offers free music at City Hall Park on Wednesdays and Fridays in June, then Fridays in July and August at 12:30 p.m. These performances give families a chance to hear live music and see how a clarinet part fits into a larger ensemble.

Rutland area

Rutland’s Trinity Presents offers free concerts, giving clarinetists and their families a local place to hear live music. For a student focused on the instrument, the series is a listening opportunity rather than a clarinet ensemble route; a concert can help connect private practice with the sound of live performance.

A little clarinet history in Vermont

Vermont has its own clarinet voices in concert and on the street. Richard “the Clarinet Man” Haupt was born in Randolph and began playing on Burlington's Church Street in 1980; in Burlington, Steven Klimowski is principal clarinet with the Burlington Chamber Orchestra and plays with Raising Cane, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra woodwind trio. At the University of Vermont, clarinetist Megan Solleder won the 2026 Concerto/Aria/Composition Competition. For a student, these examples show that the instrument belongs both in formal ensemble music and in a public, personal performance life.