Clarinet

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. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed. (See Characteristics of the Instrument)

Clarinets actually comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. It is the largest such instrument family, with more than two dozen types. The unmodified word clarinet usually refers to the soprano size. (See Extended Family of Clarinets)

A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist, sometimes spelled "clarinettist".

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). It has a very wide compass, which is showcased in chamber, orchestral, and wind band 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 most commonly used member of the clarinet family is the soprano B flat (B♭) clarinet. Used quite often in band, orchestra, chamber, and solo settings, it has become one of the most versatile orchestral instruments. The tone quality varies greatly with the musician, the music, the style of clarinet, the reed, and humidity. The German (Oehler) clarinet generally has a fuller tone quality than the French (Boehm) system. In contrast, the French clarinet typically has a lighter, brighter tone quality. The differences in instruments and geographical isolation of players in different nations led to the development, from the last part of the 18th century on, of several different schools of clarinet playing. The most prominent of these schools were the German/Viennese traditions and the French school, centred around the clarinettists of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Increasingly, through the proliferation of recording technology and the internet, examples of many different styles of clarinet playing are available to developing clarinettists today. This has led to decreased homogeneity of styles of clarinet playing. The modern clarinetist has an eclectic palette of "acceptable" tone qualities to chose from, especially when working with an open-minded teacher.

Only a semitone below the B♭ clarinet is the A clarinet. Much of orchestral and chamber repertoire is composed originally for A clarinet. The A clarinet sound is a little darker, richer, and more robust than its close cousin, though the difference is relatively small. Often a clarinetist will transpose a part and play either up or down a half step on the "wrong" clarinet to make a passage easier to play (i.e., playing a part written for A clarinet on B♭ clarinet or vice versa). Some late 18th and early 19th Century orchestral compositions written for the now nearly obsolete C clarinet are transposed by players onto the B♭ (up a whole tone), or onto the A clarinet (up a minor 3rd) depending on the key signature. The An E♭ clarinet is about eighteen inches (45 cm) long and is used mainly in band and orchestral settings. Its tone is quite a bit brighter than any other member of the widely-used clarinet family and is known for its distinctive ability to cut through the orchestral texture even at loud volumes; this effect was utilized by such 20th century composers such as Mahler, Copland, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. It is often regarded as the piccolo of the clarinet family and often affectionately referred to as an "E-fer."

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♭ is rarely found other than in clarinet choirs and large concert bands, although even the latter is becoming increasingly uncommon. Its range lies between the soprano and bass clarinets. An ancestor of this instrument, the basset horn in F, is used very rarely but can be heard in the works of Mozart.

Range

The bottom of the clarinet’s written range is defined by the keywork on each particular instrument; there are standard keywork schemes with some variability. The actual lowest concert pitch depends on the transposition of the instrument in question. Nearly all soprano and piccolo clarinets have keywork enabling them to play the E below middle C as their lowest written note. Alto and bass clarinets have an extra key to allow a low Eb. Modern professional-quality bass clarinets generally have additional keywork to low C. Among the less commonly encountered members of the clarinet family, contra-alto and contrabass clarinets may have keywork to low Eb, D, or C; the basset clarinet and basset horn generally go to low C.

Defining the top end of a clarinet’s range is difficult, since many advanced players can produce notes well above the highest notes commonly found in method books. The “high G” two octaves plus a perfect fifth above middle C is routinely encountered in advanced material and in the standard literature through the nineteenth century. The C above that is attainable by most advanced players and is shown on many fingering charts. Many professional players are able to extend the range even higher.

The clarinet differs from all other orchestral woodwind instruments in that it overblows (i.e., begins its second register) up a twelfth. This means that engaging the register key while otherwise maintaining the same fingering will produce a note a twelfth (an octave plus a perfect fifth) above the original note. All other woodwind instruments, e.g. flute, overblow at the octave. So for instance to obtain a range greater than an octave a flute must overblow lower notes to obtain higher ones. The flute produces notes from middle C up to C# an octave and a semitone above by simply removing fingers from the appropriate holes; to obtain the D above the C# the flautist "overblows" the bottom D to produce one an octave higher.

Because the clarinet overblows a twelfth a clarinettist must produce an octave and a half (from bottom E to B♭) by removing fingers and pressing keys before overblowing the bottom E to produce a B. This fact at once explains the clarinet's great range and its complex fingering system.

The range of a clarinet can be divided into three distinctive registers. The lowest notes, up to the written B♭ above middle C, is known as the 'chalumeau register' (named after the instrument that was the clarinet's immediate ancestor), of which the top four notes or so are known as the 'throat tones'. Producing a blended tone with the surrounding registers takes much skill and practice. The middle register is termed the 'clarion' register and spans just over an octave (from written B above middle C, to the C two octaves above middle C). The top or 'altissimo' register consists of the notes from the written C# two octaves above middle C and up.

Construction and acoustics

Professional clarinets are usually made from African hardwood, often grenadilla, (rarely) Honduran rosewood and sometimes even cocobolo. Historically other woods, notably boxwood, were used. 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 sometimes made of composite or plastic resin, commonly "resonite", an ABS resin. Metal soprano clarinets were popular in the early twentieth century, until plastic instruments supplanted them; metal construction is still used for some contra-alto and contrabass clarinets. Mouthpieces are generally made of ebonite, although some inexpensive mouthpieces may be made of plastic. The instrument uses a single reed made from cane (sometimes "fiber" or plastic) which is placed on a mouthpiece and held in place by a ligature. When air is blown through the opening between the reed and the mouthpiece facing, the reed vibrates and produces the instrument's sound.

Clarinetists used to make their own reeds. Now most buy manufactured reeds, but many players make adjustments to these reeds to improve playability. Clarinet reeds come in varying "strengths" generally described from "soft" to "hard." The most common scale is a 1-5 system with most manufacturers having slight differences in their own systems. It is important to note that there is no standardized system of designating reed strength. Beginning clarinetists are often encouraged to use softer reeds, usually a 2 to 2 1/2. Jazz clarinetists often remain on softer reeds, as they are easy for bending pitch. Most classical musicians work towards harder reed strengths as their embouchures strengthen. The benefit of a harder reed is a sturdy, round tone. The major manufacturers of clarinet reeds include the Vandoren company (France), Gonzalez and Zonda (both manufactured from the same cane in Argentina), Legere, Mitchell Lurie and many others.

The body is equipped with seven tone holes (six front, one back) and a complicated set of keys which allow every note of the chromatic 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 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 mostly in Germany and Austria (see History). Related is the Albert system used by some jazz, klezmer, and eastern European folk musicians.

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 improve the tone of the lowest notes.

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 cylindrical 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. Adjustment in the strength of the embouchure and muscles surrounding the mouth is one way to account for pitch variation compensation and tuning.

• 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. Additional compensation for pitch variation and tuning can be made by increasing the length of the instrument by pulling out 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 soprano clarinets, and some harmony clarinets) 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 smaller clarinets is supported by the right thumb behind the lower joint on what is misleadingly called the thumb-rest. Alto and larger clarinets are supported with a neck strap or a floor peg.

• Finally, the flared end is known as the bell. Contrary to popular belief, the bell does not amplify the sound; rather, it improves the uniformity of the instrument's tone for the lowest notes in each register. For the other notes the sound is produced almost entirely at the tone holes and the bell is irrelevant. As a result, when playing to a microphone, the best tone can be recorded by placing the microphone not at the bell but 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♭ 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 E♭ or D soprano 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. However, many clarinetists and conductors prefer to play parts originally written for obscure instruments such as the C or D clarinets on B♭ or E♭ clarinets, which are of better quality and more prevalent and accessible.

The clarinet is widely used as a solo instrument. The relatively late evolution of the clarinet (when compared to other orchestral woodwinds) has left a considerable amount of solo 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 concerti by Mozart, 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 (and often playing the same parts) in bands that the strings do in orchestras. Bands usually include several B♭ clarinets, divided into sections each consisting of 2-3 clarinetists playing the same part. There is almost always an E♭ clarinet part and a bass clarinet part, usually doubled. Alto, contra-alto, and contrabass clarinets are sometimes used as well, and very rarely a piccolo A♭ clarinet.

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♭ 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♭ soprano.

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, Eric Dolphy, 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, Pete Fountain being a notable performer in this genre. One notable enthusiast is filmmaker Woody Allen, who regularly plays New Orleans-style jazz in New York.

Klezmer

Clarinets also feature prominently in much Klezmer music, which requires a very distinctive style of playing. This folk genre makes much use of quarter-tones, making a different embouchure (mouth position) necessary.

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.

Extended Family of Clarinets

Clarinets other than the standard B♭ and A clarinets are sometimes known as harmony clarinets. However, there are many differently-pitched clarinet types, some of which are very rare. They may be grouped into sub-families, but grouping and terminology vary; the following grouping is intended to reflect the most popular usage:

• Piccolo clarinet - Very rare. Also known as Octave clarinet or Sopranino clarinet. About an octave higher than the B♭ clarinet.
  • A♭ piccolo clarinet - Used chiefly in Italian marching bands.
  • Shackleton (see references) lists also obsolete instruments in C, B♭, and A.
• Soprano clarinet - The most familiar type of clarinet.
  • E♭ Sopranino - Fairly common in America and western Europe. 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. Less common in eastern Europe. Shackleton lists this and the D clarinet, along with obsolete instruments in G, F, and E as sopranino clarinets, but this terminology is not commonly used.
  • D clarinet - Rare in America and western Europe. Occasionally used in orchestral writing (e.g. Richard Strauss's " Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks", Mahler's 5th symphony), but these pieces are usually played on an E♭ soprano. More common in eastern Europe.
  • C clarinet - Moderately rare. Was fairly common in the early 19th century, with some music by composers such as Beethoven, Berlioz and Schubert written for it. C clarinet parts are quite common in Italian music and opera. C parts are often played on a standard B♭ or A dependent on key. However, the C clarinet is having somewhat of a resurgence in the orchestral and solo literature.
  • B♭ clarinet - This is the standard clarinet used for marching band, orchestra, wind ensemble, and jazz band.
  • A clarinet - Standard orchestral instrument used alongside the B♭ Soprano. Orchestral clarinetists almost always equip themselves with a pair of clarinets. The A clarinet offers a slightly richer tone than the B♭, but the instrument's primary advantage is its greater ease of playing in orchestral repertoire written in keys with many sharps.
  • G clarinet - 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. Was popular during the Biedermeier period in Vienna playing Schrammelmusik.
  • Shackleton lists also obsolete instruments in B and A♭. The latter and the clarinet in G often occurred as clarinette d'amour in the mid-18th century.
• Basset clarinet - The basset clarinet was written for mainly by Mozart. It is essentially a soprano clarinet with a range extension to low C (written).
  • A basset clarinet - Most common type.
  • Basset clarinets in C, B♭, and G also exist.
• 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. Richard Strauss wrote for it in some of his operas, e.g. Elektra, and wind symphonies. It differs from the alto in that it has a range to low C and (usually) 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 basset horn - Most common type.
  • Shackleton lists also basset horns in G and D from the 18th century.
• Alto clarinet - About half an octave lower than the B♭ clarinet. Used in marching bands in previous centuries but not as common any more 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.
  • F alto clarinet - While the F Alto shares some design features of the basset horn, the alto has a range only to low E♭ (written) and presents a larger bore than most basset horns.
  • E♭ alto clarinet - Most common type.
• Bass clarinet - About an octave below the B♭ clarinet.
  • B♭ bass clarinet - 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. MP3 Sample
  • A bass clarinet - Obsolete. An octave below the A soprano. No longer manufactured, music for it occurs chiefly in works by Wagner and Mahler; players must transpose and play the part on the B♭ bass clarinet.
  • C bass clarinet - Obsolete.
• Contra-alto clarinet - About an octave below the alto clarinet.
  • EE♭ contra-alto clarinet - Fairly common, especially in wind band literature. Sometimes called the "EE♭ Contrabass". The lower range of the Contra-Alto (as opposed to the B♭ 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 (the trick here is to imagine the bass clef as treble clef and take three flats off the key signature, or add three sharps).
• Contrabass clarinet - About an octave below the bass clarinet.
  • BB♭ contrabass clarinet - 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. MP3 Sample

Two larger types have been built on an experimental basis:

• EEE♭ Octocontra-alto - An octave below the contra-alto clarinet. Only three were ever built.
• BBB♭ Octocontrabass - An octave below the contrabass clarinet. Only one was ever built. (The only one that exists is in the personal collection of George Leblanc himself.)

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 1690, 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 modern 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 primarily 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.

Manufacturers

See clarinet makers for lists of makers of clarinets, clarinet mouthpieces, and clarinet reeds.