The Times commented that he had "a baritone voice of wide compass and attractive quality, which he produces in very easy manner and with an assurance that is by no means common in a young singer.

"[4] On 11 December 1907 he played Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at Cambridge, in a performance he himself produced, in which the English translation by Edward J. Dent was used for the first time.

[5] World War I interrupted most of Carey's musical activities; he was a ward orderly in the Medical Corps in France, among other duties,[2] although he did publish Ten English Folk Songs in 1915.

His pupils there over a number of decades until his death in 1968 included: Edith Coates, Rita Hunter, Arnold Matters, Elsie Morison, Margaret Nisbett, John Noble, Alberto Remedios, Betty Roe, Eric Shilling, Joan Sutherland, Ava June and David Ward.

In 1924 he was appointed Director of Singing at the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, and also appeared there in straight acting roles with a repertory company.

[2] He toured India and the United States on his return journey in 1927–28, singing MacHeath in The Beggar's Opera,[2][3] and also appearing with a troupe of morris dancers.

[9] From 1932 he confined himself mainly to teaching and operatic production, but he also sang occasionally at Sadler's Wells, and in 1936 he appeared at Covent Garden as Master of the Chorus in Oedipus Rex.

[10] Clive Carey was active in restoring the original intentions of the composers who interested him, by removing accumulated traditions in the performances of certain of their operas.

Clive Carey had personal associations and correspondences with E. M. Forster, Rupert Brooke, Edward J. Dent, M. R. James, William Denis Browne,[13][14] Ernest Farrar, Percy Lubbock[15] and other notable people.