{"id":14,"date":"2014-09-08T13:47:27","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T20:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2014-10-19T22:06:03","modified_gmt":"2014-10-20T05:06:03","slug":"7-types-of-clarinet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/?page_id=14","title":{"rendered":"The Clarinets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Meet the clarinets that Clarinet Fusion incorporates in their performances.<\/p>\n

Pictures and descriptions below.<\/p>\n

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When talking about \u201cthe clarinet\u201d you generally mean the Bb (soprano) Clarinet<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is one of the younger woodwind instruments, having been invented around 1700.\u00a0 A German instrument maker developed it based on a very simple shepherd\u2019s instrument, known as the chalumeau.\u00a0 Today we still call the lovely low register the \u201cchalumeau”.\u00a0 All clarinets have a bore which is basically the same diameter along the body of the instrument.\u00a0 This cylindrical bore differs from the saxophone\u2019s conical bore and gives the clarinet its characteristic tone. Vivaldi and Handel were the first of the great composers to write music for the clarinet, but Romantic Era composers like Carl Maria von Weber, Schumann, and Brahms were the ones who really showed the full potential of the clarinet as a solo instrument. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t until the start of this Romantic period, that the reed was turned around to be played with the bottom lip.\u00a0 Prior to 1820, the reed went on the top lip.\u00a0 Both in sound and playing techniques the clarinet is one of the most flexible of all instruments. \u00a0It is the instrument most like the human voice. \u00a0You can also play virtually all forms of articulation with a clarinet – which is one reason why the clarinet is often substituted for violins in band arrangements of orchestral works.\u00a0 A typical Bb soprano clarinet is 26 inches long.<\/p>\n

\"Eb<\/a>The Eb Clarinet<\/strong> is the smallest of the standard clarinets and is only 19 inches long.\u00a0 Although the Eb is somewhat of a rarity in middle and high school bands, it is a staple instrument in college and other wind ensembles. \u00a0The Eb sounds very bright –\u00a0almost as bright as the piccolo flute.\u00a0 Originally created to replace the high trumpet, it was used in concert and military bands towards the end of the eighteenth century.\u00a0 The famous orchestral solo in Berlioz\u2019s symphony fantastic was written in 1830.<\/p>\n

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\"Ab<\/a>The smallest clarinet is the Ab Piccolo Clarinet<\/strong> checking in at 14 inches long.\u00a0 It is called the Ab sopranino and is the only surviving member of the piccolo group. \u00a0It\u2019s not quite an octave higher than the Bb, but is the highest pitched clarinet produced. \u00a0Clarinets pitched in Ab are very rare outside of European wind bands, more used in Spain and Italy. \u00a0They are called for in the pit orchestra for several operas by Verdi, and used in Austrian military bands as it is often found in Viennese folk music.<\/p>\n

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\"Eb<\/a>The Eb Alto Clarinet<\/strong>, at 43 inches long, is said to be the modern form of the bassett horn. \u00a0They first appeared around 1770.\u00a0 You find alto clarinets in wind or symphonic bands, but rarely in classical symphony orchestras, especially in light of Adolphe Sax\u2019s technical improvements to the bass clarinet. \u00a0Although Berlioz said about the alto clarinet, \u201cit is a very beautiful instrument which ought to take its place in all well established orchestras”, he never wrote music for it.\u00a0 Many outstanding composers of the band repertoire, such as Grainger, Dello Joio, Copland, etc., have written significant parts for the alto clarinet.<\/p>\n

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\"Bb<\/a>The Bb Bass Clarinet<\/strong> competed for development beginning in the mid 1700s, some 60 years after the “clarinet”.\u00a0 A wind instrument of this size, 4.5 feet long, requires a perfect key system. \u00a0It was not until the 1830s, about 10 years before the invention that bears his name, that Adolphe Sax developed a bass clarinet with significant acoustical improvements that became the basis for all bass clarinet design since.\u00a0 (The first saxophone was invented in 1846.)\u00a0 The bass clarinet\u2019s tone range is wider than any other wind instrument.\u00a0 With the addition of a few keys, it can play as low as a bassoon and as high up as a soprano clarinet.<\/p>\n

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\"EEb<\/a>\"EEb<\/a>EEb Contra Alto Clarinet<\/strong> development began in the first half of the nineteenth century; these were usually pitched in F and were called contra basset horns, being an octave lower than the basset horn.\u00a0 Today\u2019s EEb contra alto clarinet sounds an octave below the Eb alto, and 2 octaves below the Eb clarinet.\u00a0 It is used mostly in concert bands and clarinet choirs where it usually, but not always, plays the bass line of a piece of music.\u00a0 At 7 feet long, it is the second- largest member of the clarinet family in regular use, larger than the more common bass clarinet but not as large as the BBb contra bass clarinet.\u00a0 Both the EEb contra alto and BBb contra bass clarinets are built in two configurations: a “straight” clarinet style, looking much like a longer version of the bass clarinet (made of wood and metal; or all metal); and an all metal version known as a \u201cpaperclip\u201d due to its folded shape.<\/p>\n

\"BBb<\/a>The BBb Contra Bass Clarinet<\/strong> is the largest of all clarinets in regular use – about 9 feet in length – and not very common. Composers usually only use this instrument for special effects. It\u2019s extremely deep tone is comparable to that of a string bass, and it often plays that part in orchestral transcriptions.\u00a0 It is one octave lower than the bass clarinet, 2 octaves lower than the \u201cregular\u201d clarinet, and almost 3 octaves lower than the Ab piccolo clarinet.<\/p>\n

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\"Instruments.1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Meet the clarinets that Clarinet Fusion incorporates in their performances. Pictures and descriptions below.     When talking about \u201cthe clarinet\u201d you generally mean the Bb (soprano) Clarinet.\u00a0 It is one of the younger woodwind instruments, having been invented around … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarinetfusion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}