Episode 29 Early Clarinets

December 1, 2025

Early Clarinets

Thomas Carroll makes and performs on Early Clarinets and Chalumeaux

📍 Boston, MA

His website: https://www.carrollclarinet.com/ 

Thoughts and Reflections

Thomas was the first instrument maker who I recall ever meeting. In the mid-2010s I met Thomas in Boston while I was living, studying and working there. Back then, and still now but less so, I performed in a lot of musical pit orchestras. Thomas also being a well-versed woodwind doubler (being able to play flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, and bassoon) was often called upon to play musicals. We probably performed a few productions together, but which exact ones escape me. I do remember playing a production of Stuart Little, where we mostly spent time ranting about the terrible music, randomly bumping into him in the subway one evening, and borrowing an English Horn for a production of West Side Story I was playing. 

On a side note, I hope Thomas doesn't read this, after the production (in which I was playing 7 different woodwind instruments), I had accidentally left the English Horn at the school where the performances were, additionally the people there couldn't find it. So the next day I did a 2-hour driving roundtrip, insanely nervous, to the school, where in a sigh of relief I was able to find and collect this incredibly expensive instrument. 

ANYWAYS, in the time that we played together, I knew that he made and performed on early clarinets, but we had never really talked about it. And after returning to Boston for the first time since I left, I knew I had to visit him and catch up. He was still the same-old fun charismatic person I remember!