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 a particular 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. Of these many are rare or obsolete, and music written for them is usually played on one of the more common size instruments. The unmodified word clarinet usually refers to the B♭ soprano, by far the most common clarinet. (See Extended family of clarinets).
A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist, sometimes spelled "clarinettist".
Tone
The clarinet has a distinctive timbre, resulting from the shape of the cylindrical bore, whose characteristics vary between its three main 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. 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 darker 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 choose from, especially when working with an open-minded teacher.
The A clarinet sound is a little darker, richer, and less brilliant than that of the more common B♭ clarinet, though the difference is relatively small. The tone of the E♭ clarinet 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 even loud orchestral textures; this effect was utilized by such 20th century composers as Mahler, Copland, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky.
The bass clarinet has a characteristically deep, mellow sound.
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; in the case of the B♭, the concert pitch is a whole tone lower than the written pitch. 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 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.
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 the cane of arundo donax, a type of grass. Reeds may also be manufactured from synthetic materials. The ligature fastens the reed to the mouthpiece. 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. However it should be noted that the strength of the reed is only one factor in the player's set-up; the "tip-opening" and "lay" of the mouthpiece are other critical factors.
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 Albert and Oehler systems are both based on the earlier Müller system.
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, corresponding to the third harmonic. The clarinet is therefore said to overblow at the twelfth. (By contrast, nearly all other woodwind instruments overblow at the octave, or do not overblow at all; the rackett is the next most common Western instrument that overblows at the twelfth like the clarinet.) A clarinet must therefore have holes and keys for nineteen notes (an octave and a half, from bottom E to B♭) in its lowest register to play a chromatic scale. This fact at once explains the clarinet's great range and its complex fingering system. The fifth and seventh harmonics are also available to skilled players, sounding a further sixth and fourth (actually a very flat diminished fifth) 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.
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