For many years, much of my professional life has centered around the repair shop. I’ve had the privilege of working one-on-one with clarinetists from around the world, helping them better understand their instruments and finding solutions that allow them to play with greater ease, confidence, and freedom.

Recently, I introduced Performance & Repair Consultations to bring together the different parts of my career as a performer, teacher, and repair technician.

The response has been incredibly encouraging.

I’ve heard from clarinetists and aspiring repair technicians across the United States and internationally who want to meet and ask questions, but who may never have the opportunity to come to me in person. Those conversations have made something increasingly clear to me: the knowledge I’ve developed on the stage and at the bench can be useful even when I’m not the person performing the hands-on repair or selling the instrument.

Expanding the Conversation Beyond the Bench

While much of my work has traditionally centered around hands-on repair and in-person appointments, I’m excited to expand the online consulting side of my work and make these conversations available to more people, regardless of where they’re located.

There will always be things that require an instrument to be physically on a repair bench. Online consultations are not a substitute for hands-on repair, nor are they appointments to schedule future repair work with me. Instead, they give us an opportunity to draw on my experience as both a clarinetist and repair technician to better understand what you’re experiencing, explore your options, and help you make more informed decisions about your instrument.

Maybe something doesn’t feel quite right, but you’re having difficulty describing it to your local technician. Maybe you have an upcoming repair appointment and want to better understand what to discuss before you get there. Maybe you’ve been given a repair recommendation and want another perspective. Or perhaps you’re navigating the increasingly complicated process of choosing a new instrument and aren’t sure where to begin.

Those are exactly the kinds of conversations we can have online.

What Do We Talk About?

Some of the ways I help people include:

• Navigating the instrument-buying process: While I’m not currently selling instruments, our conversation can focus on helping you navigate your options, including where and from whom to buy, what to look for, and how to approach the trial process.
• Making sense of brands and models: With more clarinet makers, models, and options available than ever, I can help you understand the landscape and narrow down what may be worth exploring based on your needs and preferences.
• Preparing for an appointment with your local repair technician: Talk through what you’re experiencing, what questions to ask, and how to better communicate what you want from your instrument before bringing it to the technician who will perform the hands-on work.
• Troubleshooting instrument or playing concerns: Explore whether an issue may be mechanical, equipment-related, or connected to another aspect of your setup or playing, and discuss appropriate next steps with your local technician when repair is needed.
• Getting another perspective before repair work: If your local technician has recommended significant work or you’re trying to decide how to proceed, we can discuss the recommendation and the questions you may want to ask before authorizing the work.
• Developing your skills as a repair technician: Aspiring and working technicians can bring questions about troubleshooting, repair techniques, specific cases, shop practices, or how mechanical decisions translate to what a player actually experiences.

Navigating an Increasingly Complex Clarinet Market

Buying a professional clarinet has changed considerably. Players today have more choices than ever, with established manufacturers offering multiple models alongside a growing number of newer makers and instruments that may not have been on their radar even a few years ago.

More choice can be a great thing, but it can also make figuring out where to start surprisingly difficult.

While I’m not currently selling instruments, I can help you make sense of the options available to you. We can talk about what you’re looking for in an instrument, which brands and models may be worth exploring, where and from whom to buy, what questions to ask a seller, and how to approach trials and comparisons.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to both play and work on clarinets from nearly every major maker available today, while helping clarinetists select instruments that fit their individual needs. I’m also familiar with many of the dealers and other sources available to players, and I can help you understand where you might look depending on the instruments you’re interested in trying.

That experience gives me a broad perspective on the market from both sides of the instrument: as a professional clarinetist and as a repair technician. The goal isn’t to tell you which clarinet you should buy. It’s to help you narrow an overwhelming field of choices, know what to pay attention to, and make a more informed decision for yourself.

Helping You Work More Effectively With Your Local Repair Technician

One area I’m particularly excited about is helping clarinetists prepare for appointments with their local repair technicians.

A productive repair appointment depends on more than identifying a mechanical problem. As a player, being able to describe what you’re experiencing, understand what may be happening mechanically, and communicate what you want from your instrument can make an enormous difference.

If you have an upcoming appointment with your local repair technician, we can talk beforehand about what you’re noticing, what questions you may want to ask, and what aspects of the instrument may be worth discussing during the repair process.

The goal is to help you approach that appointment with a clearer understanding of what you’re experiencing and a better vocabulary for communicating it. That preparation can make it easier to ask more informed questions, clearly articulate what you’re hoping to achieve with the instrument, and get more out of your repair experience.

With demand for my own repair work exceeding the time I have available at the bench, these consultations also give me another way to help clarinetists I may not otherwise be able to work with directly. Whether your instrument ultimately comes to my shop or you work with another trusted technician, I want you to feel better informed about your instrument and more confident navigating the repair process.

A Resource for Repair Technicians, Too

I’ve also received interest from aspiring repair technicians who want an opportunity to discuss repair directly with me.

For those learning the craft or developing their own repair practice, online consultations can be a place to talk through repair questions, troubleshooting, techniques, approaches to specific problems, and the larger relationship between mechanical work and what a professional player actually experiences on the instrument.

One of the things that has shaped my own approach to repair is having spent so much of my life on both sides of the equation: as a professional clarinetist and as a technician. I also bring decades of teaching experience to these conversations, which has taught me how to communicate complex technical and musical concepts clearly and in a way that’s easy to understand.

Repair decisions that may seem small at the bench can have significant musical consequences. I’m excited to share more of that perspective with technicians who want to deepen their understanding of not only how an instrument works mechanically, but how their work ultimately affects the musician playing it.

Bringing My Experience to You

For years, geography placed an obvious limitation on whom I could help. Online consulting gives me another way to connect with clarinetists and repair technicians, whether they’re nearby, elsewhere in the country, or halfway around the world.

Whether you’re preparing for an appointment with your local technician, trying to understand a persistent issue with your instrument, figuring out which instrument to buy, looking for another perspective before authorizing repair work, or developing your own skills as a technician, we can now have those conversations from wherever you are.

I’m excited to continue developing this part of my work and to find new ways to share what I’ve learned with the clarinet community, wherever you may be.

Interested in working together?

Schedule a 75-minute Online Performance & Repair Consultation using this link and bring whatever questions you have. We’ll use the time to focus on what would be most helpful to you.

I look forward to connecting with you, wherever you may be.

– Liam Burke