A 1950's German made Adler Bb Clarinet

The Bb Clarinet is one of two Clarinets owned by John Embleton. The Bb Clarinet is a German made Adler. It is a full Boehm system wooden clarinet which was owned by John from the 1950's. The instrument still plays well and sits in its original case.

John Embleton was a Clarinet teacher and the musical director of the Concert Band at Perth Modern from 1968 to 1991. He had no formal qualifications as a teacher but had an impressive background that equipped him well for his role. Joining the British Army as a teenager, he attended the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, where he learned to play the clarinet and ultimately became the principal clarinet for the band of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards.

John came to Western Australia in 1966, in response to a recruitment campaign for instrumental teachers organised by Edgar Nottage. From 1968 onwards he spent most of his time at Perth Modern School where initially he taught clarinet. At the 1970 concert he conducted a 'Clarinet Choir' which performed compositions by Beethoven and Rimsky Korsakoff and continued to conduct the band for performances given during five Royal visits and for numerous broadcasts for the ABC. John received the Citizen of the Year Award (Arts, Culture and Entertainment) and a Medal in the Order of Australia in 1988 for service to music, particularly in schools

Before his death in 1999, John donated his two Clarinets to his former student and dear friend Sue King, who in turn has loaned one to the Perth Modernian Society Museum to display.