Interview with Andrew Doyle: On Historical Clarinets and Barrel Making
Andrew Doyle’s musical journey began with the violin from age 4 and the clarinet at age 8. He is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has studied with prominent clarinetists around the world. Andrew has held long-term performing positions as Principal Clarinet of The Metropolitan Orchestra and Clarinet Section Leader of the Royal Australian Navy Band. He has performed with all of Australia’s major period instrument ensembles, toured and performed with Opera Australia, appears regularly with the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra and regularly performs and records chamber music and videogame and movie soundtracks. He is a casual lecturer in historical clarinets at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Andrew also appears regularly as a soloist, and has performed live on ABC Classic FM and to sold-out concert halls including City Recital Hall, Sydney Town Hall and ABC Sydney's Eugene Goossens Hall. He has also recorded Black Dog Rhapsody for Clarinet and Band with the Royal Australian Navy Band. Andrew is a Churchill Fellow and makes historical clarinets and modern clarinet barrels from Australian timbers.
When he’s not making or playing clarinets, Andrew can be found on the soccer pitch playing for the Beecroft Wombats (2024 Over 35 Champions!) or underneath a classic Datsun in his garage – usually having to clear the wood dust off the cars first as they share the workshop with his clarinets.
Maddy Avagliano: I know you are a maker of historical clarinets and modern clarinet barrels - could you start us off with how your business came to be?
Andrew Doyle: In 2016 I was award a Churchill Fellowship to learn how to make historical clarinets. The importance of this Fellowship was to bring the skills back to Australia in order to:
1. Make/repair historical clarinets in Australia as there was nobody doing this at the time, and
2. Be able to repair/maintain other historical woodwind instruments.
I studied with Soren Green in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (which was AMAZING) and to be honest, I don’t see what I do as a business but rather as helping to develop Australia’s Arts/Music scene, one clarinet at a time. Making instruments and barrels really is a joy, but what I find the most enjoyable is watching the face of a clarinettist as they discover new sound worlds that they were not previously able to create or not aware of.
MA: What sparked your interest in historical clarinets?
AD: During my undergrad studies at the Sydney Conservatorium, my clarinet teacher Deborah De Graaff had a 5-key classical clarinet in her teaching studio and the differences between it and a modern clarinet always fascinated me. It wasn’t until more than 10 years later however that I was looking for a new musical challenge that I thought about attempting to play classical clarinet. The biggest challenge in Australia was just trying to get my own instrument to play! I emailed almost every period clarinettist in the world, bought old instruments off eBay and eventually found a new replica instrument from Italy. I had a couple of lessons from the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra principal clarinet Craig Hill and spent hours and hours at work in a practice studio learning how to play it.
This led to me commencing studying a Masters Degree at the Sydney Con where I was fortunate enough to meet like-minded historical musicians and was afforded a range of performance opportunities including solo, chamber music and orchestral performances with the Early Music Ensemble (EME). The most memorable performance during my studies was performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto K622 with EME. Since then I have been fortunate enough to perform with all of Australia’s leading period instrument orchestras as well as with fellow Sydney Con Historically Informed Performance staff members in the Notos Quintet.
MA: What is a Chalumeau, and why is it different from the modern clarinet?
AD: Put simply, the chalumeau is the predecessor to the clarinet. Just like the clarinet, it has a single reed, same type of mouthpiece (just a bit smaller) and a cylindrical bore. It only has 2 keys which are made from a flat piece of brass, 7 holes on the top (not including the double holes) and a thumb hole on the bottom. Chalumeaux only have a comfortable range of about 2 octaves, so they come in different sizes – Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. There’s a promotional video for a concert I performed in New Zealand on my YouTube page where I describe a little bit of the alto chalumeau… and demonstrate what it sounds like: https://youtu.be/LEA_XcbVlmY?si=TnXe29dFRPzuRG_i
The most important difference between the chalumeau and the clarinet is the location of the bottom key or register key (not an octave key like other wind instruments!). Due to the cylindrical bore, the chalumeau and clarinet overblow at a twelfth, making it unique from the other woodwinds that all overblow at an octave. On the chalumeau, the tone holes under the 2 keys line up, but this means that it is impossible to play a chromatic scale as there is a semitone missing. By moving the register key higher, the range of the instrument more than doubled, the missing semitone was found and the clarinet was born!
MA: You use Australian woods to make your clarinets and barrels. Why?
AD: In the spirit of 18th Century instrument makers, upon my return from Europe I set out to use local materials for instruments. There are significant challenges in obtaining European boxwood (the traditional timber for period clarinets and chalumeau) in Australia and it seemed a travesty to not explore some of the amazing timbers that grow in the Australian climate. The selection process for timbers initially took place with a visit to a timber dealer in Windsor (north-western suburb of Sydney) who has a VERY large warehouse with a large selection of woodturning blanks. I spent many hours selecting timbers that looked like they would be suitable – having a tight grain the foremost quality I looked for. The next step was finding out if they were appropriate to use to make an instrument…
To avoid disappointment at making an entire clarinet out of a certain timber only to find that it doesn’t work, I had an idea to make barrels for modern clarinets as a way to test the attributes of the timbers. The first test of this wood was the best barrel that I thought I had ever played on, but to ensure that I wasn’t just being biased as I had made it, I asked my wife (also a professional clarinettist) to test it. She was blown away and ever since I have been custom making barrels for her as well as using her specialist feedback to improve on my creations.
MA: Is there any creation you are really proud of?
AD: I think the creation that has shaped my instrument making would have to be my first modern clarinet barrel due to the affirmation that Australian timbers can work as a fantastic alternative to the traditional clarinet timbers. Each first barrel from a different timber after this has been just as exciting, finding new colours and ease of response to assist in my performing career. Of course, the alto chalumeau pictured above that I made from scratch in just 7 days was definitely an achievement! Also a lesson in not to set unrealistic timeframes in future….
See Andrew’s website for more information on barrels, historical clarinets and woods: https://andrewdoyleclarinets.com