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The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet.

Clarinets are made from one of three different materials. Professional clarinets are constructed of wood, and the highest level of professional clarinets are usually handcrafted to custom specifications. Clarinets crafted of rubber (usually "resonite" or any number of "ABS rubber" variations, are used for marching band (in cold climates) and often recommended for new students, especially younger ones, due to the much greater durability. A newer line of clarinets, currently produced solely by Buffet-Crampon (France), (called their "greenline" clarinets), are made of a special combination of resin, ebonite, and grenadilla wood--producing a thick-walled instrument with greater resistance to cracking than wood clarinets and much better tonal qualities in all aspects over the ABS or resin type plastic clarinets. The instrument uses a single reed which vibrates to generate the instrument's sound. (See Characteristics of the Instrument)

A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist.

The most popular clarinet in the world is unquestionably the "R13", produced by Buffet-Crampon of France. The R13 was the first clarinet to posses a polycylindrical bore, now a standard on almost all professional clarinets.

Contents 1 Characteristics of the instrument 1.1 Tone 1.2 Range 1.3 Construction and acoustics 2 Usage and repertoire of the clarinet 2.1 Classical music 2.2 Concert bands 2.3 Jazz 2.4 Klezmer 2.5 Groups of clarinets 3 Family of clarinets 4 History 5 Famous clarinetists 6 References 7 External links

Characteristics of the instrument

Tone

The clarinet has a distinctive liquid tone, resulting from the shape of the bore, whose characteristics vary between its three registers: the chalumeau (low), clarion or clarino (middle), and altissimo (high). Of all the wind instruments the clarinet has the widest compass, which is showcased in much wind band and orchestral writing. Additionally, improvements made to the fingering systems of the clarinet over time have enabled the instrument to be very agile; there are few restrictions to what it is able to play.

The bass clarinet has a characteristically deep mellow tone. It is used in large bands and orchestral pieces dating from around the 1880s onwards (e.g. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet music, Mahler symphonies, Richard Strauss tone poems). The alto clarinet pitched in E flat is rarely found other than in a concert band. Its range lies between the soprano and bass clarinets. A variant on this instrument, the basset horn in F, is used very rarely but can be heard in the works of Mozart. The B flat clarinet is a very common band, orchestra, chamber music, and solo instrument. The tone quality varies greatly with the musician, the music, the style of clarinet, the reed, and humidity. The German (Albert) clarinet generally has a more piercing tone quality than the French (Boehm) system. In contrast, the French clarinet has a darker and more mellow sound. The sound qualities of the different types of clarinets match the different schools of teaching; the European (Albert) schools usually strive for a brighter sound, while the English/French (Boehm) schools attempt to achieve a darker, more mellow sound.

Only a semitone below the B flat clarinet is the A clarinet. Much of orchestral and chamber repertoire is composed originally for A clarinet. Some people find the sound of the A clarinet to be just a little more rich and mysterious than a B flat, though the difference is small. Today, the chief use of an A clarinet is to make the key signature of a piece simpler. An E flat clarinet, about eighteen inches (45cm) long, is hardly as warm as the A clarinet. Many contemporary musicians write band music using the E flat clarinet. It is looked upon as the piccolo of clarinets, with its high and very bright tone.

Beginning clarinetists often choose soft reeds - 2 to 2 1/2. Jazz clarinetists often remain on softer reeds, as the soft reeds are easy for bending pitch, but they are more vulnerable to wear and tear if the beginning clarenetist is not careful and will split, splinter, or even crack in half. Most classical musicians work their way up the reed size as their embouchures strengthen. The benefit of a harder reed is a sturdy, round tone, not to mention a more sturdy reed.

Range

All clarinets, except for the C clarinet, are transposing instruments, meaning that the sounding and written pitches differ. For a standard B♭ clarinet, the range stretches from the E below middle C, to around the F two and half octaves above middle C, although the top of the range is not well defined. Being a B♭ instrument, the written range is a tone higher. An A clarinet has the same written range, and consequently can get a semitone lower. All clarinets have nominally the same written range, so a bass clarinet operates an octave lower, and a high E♭ clarinet operates a fourth higher than a B♭ clarinet. Generally, the lower clarinets are able to produce higher 'fingered' pitches than the small clarinets. This gives the bass clarinet a useable range of almost five octaves (beginning at low Bb two octaves and one tone below middle C) and the contra-alto and contra-bass clarinets perhaps more, but again these upper limits are subject to many variables. On the low end of things, many professional models of bass and contrabass clarinets poses extended ranges by means of a longer lower joint and added keys. This extends the range three semitones downward, from lowest written E♭(concert D♭) to written C (concert B♭). Consequently, instruments with these extentions are commonly given the designation of being a "low C" instrument; this has nothing to do with pitch.

The range of a clarinet can be divided into three main sections, known as 'registers'. The bottom octave and a half (from written E below middle C to the B♭ above middle C) is known as the 'chalumeau register', of which the top fourth contains what are known as the 'throat notes'. Good tone in the 'throat notes' takes great skill. The middle section is called the 'clarion register', which spans just over an octave (from written B above middle C, to the C two octaves above middle C). The top section is called the 'altissimo register', which starts with the (written) C# two octaves above middle C and upwards without a definite upper limit, though anything beyond the C above this can be considered quite extreme. The highest notes in the altissimo register are generally used only rarely, to achieve particular dramatic or showy effects, as in Dixieland performance. Beginners often discover these notes quite by accident; playing them deliberately and well requires many years of practice.

Construction and acoustics

Professional clarinets are usually made from African hardwood, often grenadilla, (rarely) Honduran rosewood and sometimes even cocobolo. One major manufacturer makes professional clarinets from a composite mixture of plastic resin and wood chips — such instruments are less affected by humidity, but are heavier than the equivalent wood instrument. Student instruments are usually composite or plastic resin, commonly "resonite", an ABS resin. Some student mouthpieces are made of ebonite. The instrument uses a single wooden (sometimes "fiber" or plastic) reed which is placed on a mouthpiece and held in place by a ligature. Pressure variations allow the reed to vibrate and produce the instrument's sound.

The body is equipped with a complicated set of seven tone holes (six front, one back) and 17 (sometimes 18 with an additional alternate Eb key) keys which allow the full musical scale to be produced. The most common system of keys was named the Boehm System by its designer Hyacinthe Klosé in honour of the flute designer Theobald Boehm, but it is not the same as the Boehm System used on flutes. The other main system of keys is called the Oehler system and is used only in Germany and Austria (see History).

The hollow bore inside the instrument has a basically cylindrical shape, being roughly the same diameter for most of the length of the tube. There is a subtle hourglass shape, with its thinnest part at the junction between the upper and lower joint. This hourglass figure is not visible to the naked eye, but helps in the resonance of the sound. The diameter of the bore affects characteristics such as the stability of the pitch of a given note, or, conversely, the ability with which a note can be 'bent' in the manner required in jazz and other styles of music. The bell is at the bottom of the instrument and flares out to spread the tone evenly.

A clarinetist moves between registers through use of the register key, or speaker key. The fixed reed and fairly uniform diameter of the clarinet give the instrument the configuration of a stopped pipe in which the register key, when pressed, causes the clarinet to produce the note a twelfth higher. This interval corresponds to the third harmonic, whereas most other woodwinds go up to the second harmonic, an octave higher, when the register key is pressed. The fifth and seventh harmonics are also available to skilled players, sounding a further sixth and fourth higher respectively.

The highest notes on a clarinet can have a piercing quality and can be difficult to tune precisely. Different individual instruments can be expected to play differently in this respect. This becomes critical if a number of instruments are required to play a high part in unison. Fortunately for audiences, disciplined players can use a variety of fingerings to introduce slight variations into the pitch of these higher notes. It is also common for high melody parts to be split into close harmony to avoid this issue.

The parts that make up a clarinet are as follows (description follows the illustration from right to left):

• The reed is attached to the mouthpiece by the ligature, and the whole assembly is held in the player’s mouth, with the reed on the underside of the mouthpiece, pressing against the player's bottom lip. The formation of the mouth around the mouthpiece and reed is called the embouchure.

• Next is the short barrel; this part of the instrument may be extended in order to fine-tune the clarinet. As the pitch of the clarinet is fairly temperature sensitive some instruments have interchangeable barrels whose lengths vary very slightly. Additonal compensation for pitch variation can be made by increasing the length of the instrument by pulling out at the barrel. Some performers employ a single, synthetic barrel with a thumbwheel that enables the barrel length to be altered on the fly.

• The main body of the clarinet is divided (in most cases, and except in the case of the E♭ soprano clarinet) into the upper joint whose holes and most keys are operated by the left hand, and the lower joint with holes and most keys operated by the right hand. The left thumb operates both a tone hole and the register key. The cluster of keys in the middle of the illustration are known as the trill keys and are operated by the right hand. These give the player alternative fingerings which make it easy to play ornaments and trills that would otherwise be awkward. The entire weight of the instrument is supported by the right thumb behind the lower joint on what is misleadingly called the thumb-rest.

• Finally, the flared end is known as the bell, which amplifies the sound. When playing to a microphone, it is often found that the sound produced from the bell is relatively coarse, and that a better tone can be recorded by placing the microphone a little way from the finger-holes of the instrument. This relates to the position of the instrument when playing to an audience: pointing down at the floor, except in the most vibrant parts of certain styles of music and when called for specifically by the composer in the music (for example, in the music of Gustav Mahler).

Usage and repertoire of the clarinet

Classical music

In classical music, clarinets are part of standard orchestral instrumentation, which frequently includes two clarinetists playing individual parts — each player usually equipped with a pair of standard clarinets in B flat and A. Clarinet sections grew larger during the 19th century, employing a third clarinetist or a bass clarinet. In the 20th century, composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss and Olivier Messiaen enlarged the clarinet section on occasion to up to nine players, employing many different clarinets including the Eb or D sopranino clarinets, bassett horn, bass clarinet and/or contrabass clarinet. This practice of using a variety of clarinets to achieve colouristic variety was common in 20th century music and continues today.

The clarinet is widely used as a solo instrument. The relatively late invention of the clarinet has bequeathed a considerable repertoire from the Classical, Romantic and Modern periods but few works from the Baroque era. A number of clarinet concertos have been written to showcase the instrument, with the one by Mozart (the first major composer to write for the clarinet), Copland and Weber being particularly well known.

Many works of chamber music have also been written for the clarinet. Particularly common combinations are:

• clarinet and piano (including clarinet sonatas)
• clarinet, piano and another instrument (e.g. string instrument or voice)
• Clarinet Quintet, generally made up of a clarinet plus a string quartet,
• Wind Quintet, consists of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn.
• Trio d'Anches, or Trio of Reeds consists of oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.
• Wind Octet, consists of pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns.
• clarinet, violin, piano

Concert bands

In wind bands, clarinets are a particularly central part of the instrumentation, occupying the same space in bands that the strings do in orchestras. Bands usually include several B♭ clarinets, divided into sections each consisting of several instruments playing the same part. Alto, bass, and contrabass clarinets are sometimes used as well.

Jazz

Clarinets are also commonly found in jazz, especially in its earlier forms such as the Big Band music of the 1930s and 1940s.

The clarinet was a central instrument in early jazz starting in the 1910s and remaining popular through the big band era into the 1940s. Larry Shields, Ted Lewis, Jimmie Noone and Sidney Bechet were influential in early jazz. The B flat soprano was the most common, but a few early jazz musicians such as Louis Nelson Deslile and Alcide Nunez prefered the C soprano, and many New Orleans jazz brass bands have used E flat sopranino.

Swing clarinetists such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Woody Herman led perhaps the most successful popular music groups of their era.

With the decline of big bands' popularity in the late 1940s, the clarinet faded from its prominent position in jazz, though a few players (Buddy DeFranco, Jimmy Giuffre, Perry Robinson and others) used clarinet in bebop and free jazz. However, the instrument has seen something of a resurgence since the 1980s, with Eddie Daniels, Don Byron and others playing the clarinet in more contemporary contexts. The instrument remains common in such styles as Dixieland.

Klezmer

Clarinets are also feature prominently in much Klezmer music, which requires a very distinctive style of playing from the clarinetist.

Groups of clarinets

Groups of clarinets playing together have become increasingly popular among clarinet enthusiasts in recent years. Common forms are:

• clarinet choir, which features a large number of clarinets playing together, usually involving a range of different members of the clarinet family (see Family of Clarinets). The homogeneity of tone across the different members of the clarinet family produces an effect with some similarities to a human choir.
• clarinet quartet, for which three B♭ sopranos and one B♭ bass is a particularly common combination

Clarinet choirs and quartets often play arrangements of both classical and popular music, in addition to a body of literature specially written for a combination of clarinets by composers such as Arnold Cooke, Alfred Uhl, Lucien Caillet and Vaclav Nehlybel.

Family of clarinets

Clarinets come in a range of different sizes. The most common varieties by far are the standard B♭ soprano and the A soprano, whose ranges are described above, followed by the B♭ Bass and the E♭ Sopranino. Clarinets other than the standard B flat and A clarinets are sometimes known as harmony clarinets. However, there are many differently-pitched clarinet types, some of which are very rare:

• Ab; Piccolo - Very rare. Used only in Italian marching bands.
• Eb; Sopranino - Fairly common. Also affectionately called the "Eefer". Used in marching bands, wind ensembles, clarinet choirs and sometimes in orchestras to increase the upper range of the clarinet choir. The piercing quality of this smaller clarinet carries well in outdoor situations.
• D Sopranino - Rare. Occasionally used in orchestral writing, but these pieces are usually played on an Eb; Sopranino.
• C Soprano - Rare. Was fairly common in the early 19th century, with some music by composers such as Beethoven and Schubert is written for it. C Clarinet parts are quite common in Italian music and opera. C parts are often played on a standard Bb;. However, the C clarinet is having somewhat of a resurgence in orchestra and solo literature.
• Bb; Soprano - This is the standard clarinet used for marching band, orchestra and jazz band.
• A Soprano - Standard orchestral instrument used alongside the Bb; Soprano. Orchestral clarinetists always come equipped with a pair of clarinets. The A clarinet offers a slightly richer tone than the Bb;, but the instrument's primary advantage is its greater ease of playing in orchestral repertoire written in keys with many sharps.
• A Basset - The basset clarinet was written for by Mozart and others. It is essentially a soprano clarinet with a range extension to low C (written).
• G Soprano - Also called a "Turkish Clarinet". It has a much deeper timbre than the soprano and is capable of microtones. It is primarily used in ethnic music.
• F Basset Horn - This instrument was written for by Mozart often; his friend Anton Stadler was an accomplished player. It is not common in wind band or orchestral music. It differs from the alto in that it has a range to low C and a smaller bore designed to be played with a soprano mouthpiece. In appearance, the basset horn is most often distinguished from the alto by the low C extension.
• F Alto - While the F Alto shares some design features of the basset horn and looks like a small bass clarinet, the alto has a range only to low Eb; (written) and presents a larger bore than the basset horn. Some examples of extended range (to written low C) alto clarinets in F are presently manufactured.
• Eb; Alto - Used in marching bands in previous centuries but not as common anymore in the traditional setting. Used in clarinet choirs and some works for concert band. There is a limited solo repertiore. This instrument has the advantage of being more easily manufactured, carried and played than the bass clarinet, whilst retaining some of the appealing tonal character of the larger instrument.
• Bb; Bass - An octave below the Bb; soprano. Commonly used in concert bands and clarinet choirs; also fairly common in orchestral writing, especially of the 20th century. Some marching bands may have marching bass clarinets, but this is rare, as the instrument is heavy and can be awkward and difficult to carry on the field.
• EEb; Contra-Alto - An octave below the Eb; Alto. Fairly common, especially in wind band literature. Sometimes called the "EEb; Contra-bass". The lower range of the Contra-Alto (as opposed to the Bb; Bass Clarinet) can match some of the lower range passages written for bassoon, tuba and double bass. Its popularity among players rests in the ease with which one transposes parts for bassoon, tuba, and bass.
• BBb; Contrabass - An octave below the Bb; Bass. Rare, except in large clarinet choirs and wind ensembles. Orchestratively, its usage is primarily supplemental, though some works for concert band and orchestra employ distinct passages expressly for this instrument; the contrabassoon is sometimes substituted.
• EEEb; Octocontralto - Only three were ever built.
• BBBb; Octocontrabass - Only one was ever built. (The only one that exists is in the personal collection of Mr. George Leblanc.)

History

The clarinet started life as a small instrument called the chalumeau. Not much is known about this instrument, but it may have evolved from the recorder. The chalumeau had a similar reed to the modern clarinet, but lacked the register key which extends the range to nearly four octaves, so it had a limited range of about one and a half octaves. It also lacked certain chromatics. Like a recorder, it had eight finger holes, and usually had one or two keys for extra notes.

In about 1700, a German instrument maker named Johann Christoph Denner added a register key to the chalumeau and produced the first clarinet. This instrument played well in the middle register with a loud, strident tone, so it was given the name clarinetto meaning "little trumpet" (from clarino + -etto). Early clarinets did not play well in the lower register, so chalumeaus continued to be made to play the low notes and these notes became known as the chalumeau register. As clarinets improved, the chalumeau fell into disuse.

The original Denner clarinets had two keys, but various makers added more to get extra notes. The classical clarinet of Mozart's day would probably have had eight finger holes and five keys.

Clarinets were soon accepted into orchestras. Later models had a mellower tone than the originals. Mozart liked the sound of the clarinet and wrote much music for it, and by the time of Beethoven, the clarinet was a standard fixture in the orchestra.

The next major development in the history of clarinet was the invention of the modern pad. Early clarinets covered the tone holes with felt pads. Because these leaked air, the number of pads had to be kept to a minimum, so the clarinet was severely restricted in what notes could be played with a good tone. In 1812, Ivan Mueller, a Russian-born clarinetist and inventor, developed a new type of pad which was covered in leather or fish bladder. This was completely airtight, so the number of keys could be increased enormously. He designed a new type of clarinet with seven finger holes and thirteen keys. This allowed the clarinet to play in any key with near equal ease. Over the course of the 19th century, many enhancements were made to Mueller's clarinet, such as the Albert system and the Baermann system, all keeping the same basic design. The Mueller clarinet and its derivatives were popular throughout the world.

The final development in the design of the clarinet was introduced by Hyacinthe Klosé in 1839. He devised a different arrangement of keys and finger holes which allow simpler fingering. It was inspired by the Boehm system developed by Theobald Boehm, a flute maker who had invented the system for flutes. Klosé was so impressed by Boehm's invention that he named his own system for clarinets the Boehm system, although it is different from the one used on flutes. This new system was slow to catch on because it meant the player had to relearn how to play the instrument. Gradually, however, it became the standard and today the Boehm system is used everywhere in the world except Germany and Austria. These countries still use a direct descendant of the Mueller clarinet known as the Oehler system clarinet. Also, some contemporary Dixieland and Klezmer players continue to use Albert system clarinets, as the simpler fingering system can allow for easier slurring of notes. At one time the reed was held on using string, but now the practice exists only in Germany and Austria, where the warmer, thicker tone is preferred over that produced with the ligatures that are more popular in the rest of the world.

Famous clarinetists

See clarinetist for a list of some famous clarinet players.

References

• Pino, Dr. David The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing. Providence: Dover Pubns, 1998, 320 p.; ISBN 0486402703

External links

• Buffet: A prestigious brand
• B flat clarinet fingering chart
• Comprehensive list of clarinets
• Clarinet acoustics
• Comprehensive list of Boehm-, Albert-, and Oehler-system clarinets and Kinderklarinettes fingering chart
• Clariperu (Spanish) The clarinet in Latin America

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