Chris Allen's highly successful collection of sixty studies for solo clarinet in two books responds to the need for studies which provide students at all levels with instructive yet appealing material. Written in a modern style but without abandoning formal structure, they are slightly 'off-beat' both rhythmically and harmonically. Some of the studies are in familiar rhythms, some adopt five or seven beats in a bar and others make use of the less common groupings to be found in eight or nine beats to a bar.