Wind Instruments

There isn't anything wrong with the clarinet.  They are tuned to Bb, which means that standard C for her is going to be Bb for you.  Lots of wind instruments are like this.   They call them "transposing" instruments.  I played a whole lot of G bugles over the years, and it took a little bit of getting used to the idea when you were trying to accompany them.

Just remember that you're a whole tone down from where she is, and you should be able to play along together in no time.

It is in fact supposed to be that way.    Your bass, guitar, piano, etc are "Concert Pitch" instruments, which generally means C on the stave is tonal C.   But when composers were writing music for these instruments, they found that the pitch they produced meant that the vast majority of the notes would be either way above, or way below the stave, so they merely transposed the notes up or down the staff to accommodate that.

So tonally, a C is a C is a C.  But when your daughter's teacher taught her that "this is the fingering and embochure for a C," what comes out of the clarinet is a Bb.

But look at the bright side.  You're dealing with two instruments.   Imagine what the guys that wrote symphonies and operas had to deal with. 

You're right about Bb clarinets, Jerome. What doesn't make sense is that, as far as I can make out, when fatstring's daughter plays a notated G, it should come out a whole tone lower. That would be an F, not a G#, which is a half tone higher. It's weird!

Well. I just had a chat with Mrs Stonebridge, who plays clarinet. She informs me that there are also Eb clarinets and even C clarinets. We don't know which one one are dealing with here. The most common is the Bb. The "fine" tuning of the clarinet is achieved by using the barrel, which is between the mouthpiece and the main body. You just slide it up or down to tune in with the other instruments. I imagine that you must lengthen the instrument to make it play flatter and shorten it to play sharper. So, it could be a C clarinet (that plays the same notes - does not transpose - as other instruments), but is playing sharp. In which case you need to adjust the barrel and lengthen it to tune it down to your guitar. Assuming the guitar is tuned correctly.