THE
CLARINET
This tidbit page will give you some information about the
history of the clarinet. It contains sections on:
ANCIENT CLARINETS
A clarinet type instrument has been around for many
hundreds of years, although the instrument that we recognize
as a clarinet wasn't invented until the end of the 17th
century. Mozart was one of the earliest composers to write
for the clarinet. (He wrote a WONDERFUL clarinet concerto!
Remember, a concerto is a piece for solo instrument(s) and
orchestra.) The first known composer to write a concerto for
clarinet was J.W. Stamitz.
Instruments in the clarinet family all have a single reed
(sometimes called a tongue) which vibrates against an
opening to create the sound. This reed is either attached
to, or carved from a
cylindrical tube. The shape of the body of the early
clarinet type instruments varied greatly! The Native
Americans had an instrument that was a fairly short tube
with a reed tied between two hollowed out pieces of cedar
wood, while in South America there was a version that had a
gourd like bulb on the end, and an instrument called a
"bumpa" developed in the Upper Volta area of Africa that had
bulbs on both ends and was played sideways like a modern
flute! Other early instruments were made from animal horns
or bones with reeds attached to the end. Click to see a
picture of a Welsh style hornpipe called a pibcorn
(sometimes called pibgorn). Click to see more pictures of
other hornpipes
and reedpipes and to listen to a sound file.
In some cases the player blew into one mouthpiece area,
but two pipes were attached, each with its own reed and
finger holes! Imagine, you could play duets with yourself!
Each tube usually had only three or four holes or the player
covered the holes on both pipes with the same finger. These
double clarinets were popular in such diverse places as
Egypt, South America, Palestine, the Balkans, and
Yugoslavia, to mention but a few. The Sardinian launeddas
has three pipes (one is a drone pipe and never changes
pitch) and this instrument is still used today. (Click
here to see
a picture of someone playing a launeddas)
The instrument that we associate with snake charmers was
a clarinet type instrument. It too, had two pipes which were
made out of cane and were attached to each other and fitted
into a gourd. The player blew air into the gourd and the
reeds on both pipes vibrated.
(These instruments are hard to describe in words. Check
out the Musical Instruments of the World Encyclopedia
on the stage - page 36-41 - it has great pictures!)
THE CHALUMEAUX & THE BIRTH OF THE CLARINET
Our modern day clarinet developed directly from an
instrument call a "chalumeau".
(We still refer to the lowest register of the clarinet as
the chalumeau register.) Around the 1690 the German
instrument maker, Johann Christoph Denner, and his son (also
named Johann) made some changes to the common chalumeau. He
made the mouthpiece separate, added a slightly larger bell,
but most importantly, he added some keys to make it possible
to play notes higher than the chalumeau could reach.
By about 1720 the clarinet was a separate instrument. At
the time it sounded more like an oboe than a modern day
clarinet. It used very small reeds which gave it almost a
trumpet-like sound - this is probably why the instrument
came to be called the clarinet. (There was an ancient
English trumpet called a clarion and the style of very high
trumpet playing that we hear in the Bach Brandenburg
Concerto Number 2 is called clarino trumpet playing.)
(Click here
to see pictures of two really old clarinets. The bottom
picture is the older of the two instruments and built in
1790. The top one was built in 1880)
By 1840 the Boehm system of keys was being used on the
clarinets. The Boehm system is also used on flutes, oboes,
saxes and somewhat on the bassoons today. On older
instruments, the holes were cut close to the correct
position to make the note in tune, but how far the fingers
could reach was also a consideration in the placement of the
holes, so some notes were pretty badly out of tune! In the
Boehm system, the holes are cut so that they are in exactly
the correct place to make the note in tune. Then keys are
added to cover those hole, but the keys have levers that are
placed within easy reach of the fingers. Alternate
fingerings were also developed to make it easier to play
certain combinations of notes. Woodwind instruments with the
Boehm system of keys not only play better in tune, but are
easier to play on fast and complex passages. Some clarinets
are made with a different set of keys; although the Boehm
system is the most common, both the Albert system and the
Auler (pronounced oiler) system are still in use.
OUR CLARINET FAMILY
Clarinets come in many different sizes and all are
transposing instruments, which means that the music for the
clarinets is written in different pitches than the note
actually sounds. The fingerings are the same for each
instrument in the clarinet family so the player can switch
easily from one to another. But, even though middle C is
always fingered the same way, it will create a different
sounding note on each instrument.
The sopranino clarinet is pitched in Eb (sometimes just
called an Eb clarinet), the soprano clarinet is in Bb (this
is the one that is most common), the alto clarinet is in Eb,
the bass clarinet is in Bb, the basset horn is in Eb, and
the contrabass clarinet is in Bb and pitched an octave below
the bass clarinet. To play a contrabass clarinet, the player
sits on a stool while the instrument stands on the
floor!
Click here
to learn more about each kind of clarinet and about the
instrument called a basset horn and to hear a sound clip
from the Mozart clarinet quintet (clarinet & string
quartet).
Most orchestra clarinet players carry the standard
clarinet in Bb and also a clarinet in A because there are
many orchestral pieces written for the instrument in A.
(Being pitched in A makes it easier to play in the sharp
keys that orchestra music is often written in!)
The clarinet has a range of over three
octaves and each area of the range has a special name. The
Chalumeau register goes from the lowest tone (E) up to open
B-flat (left hand index A and octave key), the Clarion
register goes from middle B natural up to the C above the
staff (octave key and thumb only), and the Altissimo
register is that C on up.
For many years the clarinet was made out of metal. Click
for a picture of an old Albert system metal
clarinet.
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