Clarinet
Clarinet
B♭ Clarinet (Boehm system)
Woodwind instrument
Classification
Wind
Woodwind
Single-reed
Hornbostel-Sachs
Classification
422.211.2-71
(Single-reeded
aerophone with keys)
Playing range
Written range:
Related instruments
Saxophone Tárogató (modern) Oboe Chalumeau
Musicians
Clarinetists
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
type of 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.
Clarinets actually comprise a family of in-
struments of differing sizes and pitches. It is
the largest such instrument family, with more
than a 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 clari-
net usually refers to the B♭ soprano clarinet,
by far the most common clarinet.
A person who plays the clarinet is called a
clarinetist or clarinettist.
Characteristics
Tone
The cylindrical bore is largely responsible for
the clarinet’s distinctive timbre, which varies
between its three main registers. It can play
over 4 octaves depending on the ability of the
musician. The tone quality can vary greatly
with the musician, the music, the style of cla-
rinet, and the strength of the reed. The dif-
ferences in instruments and geographical
isolation of players in different countries 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 tra-
ditions and the French school, centered
around the clarinetists of the Conservatoire
de Paris. Increasingly, through the prolifera-
tion of recorded music, examples of many dif-
ferent styles of clarinet playing have become
available to developing clarinetists. The mod-
ern clarinetist has an eclectic palette of "ac-
ceptable" t