About Tom Ridenour

Tom Ridenour, a native of Kentucky, received his Bachelor's Degree in performance from Murray State University and his Master's degree in clarinet performance from Yale University, graduating with honors from both institutions.  Tom taught for more than a decade on the clarinet faculties of Wesleyan University, Hartt College, and the University of Connecticut.  During that time he also was active as a chamber musician, soloist and recording artist in the New York, New England area. Tom toured as soloist with the New England String Quartet, gave chamber music and solo broad casts on both Hartford and Boston public radio, and in 1984 Tom  gave the North American premiere of Robert Muczynski's Time Pieces for clarinet and piano with pianist Alan Lurie at SUNY Buffalo.

In 1986  Tom moved to Florida where he established his own clarinet specialty business while continuing to actively perform in both chamber music and orchestral settings.

From 1989 to 1997 Tom served as manager of the Woodwind Company at Leblanc Corporation where he participated in a number of activities, including the creation of new products, clarinet design, giving educational work shops, and working with artists.

In 1997 Tom moved his family to Duncanville, Texas where he resumed his previous work in Ridenour Clarinet Products, his business  specializing in artist hand made mouthpieces and clarinet acoustical and mechanical work. 

From 1997 till 2005 Tom served as the Brook Mays Music Group's clarinet specialist. In January of 2005 Tom co-founded Arioso Musical Instruments. He serves there now as Vice President of Product Development and Distribution.

Tom has lectured, performed and presented workshops and master classes all over North America.  He has written extensively on virtually every aspect of the clarinet.  His numerous articles have appeared in magazines all over the world and have been translated into several different languages, including Finish and Japanese.  His book, Clarinet Fingerings: A Guide for the Performer and Educator has sold continuously for almost two decades and is widely regarded as the standard reference on the subject.  Tom has also written the first complete pedagogy of the clarinet in the instrument's history; The Educator's Guide to the Clarinet, and his new book, The Definitive Guide to Successful Reed Finishing presents a completely revolutionary new and easy method for fine balancing reeds, making the ability to finish reeds accessible to players of all levels of development. Tom has worked closely with many of the world's greatest clarinetists, helping create equipment for them that is worthy of their

Tom seeks to combine his skills as an artist, educator, acoustician and technician to create a complete approach to clarinetistry.