The clarinet

THE CLARINET


The clarinet is a very popular woodwind originated in Islamic and Asian countries at least 700 years ago.
The clarinet started life as a small instrument called the chalumeau.Not much is known about this instrument. The chalumeau had a similar reed to the modern clarinet and it had a limited range of about one and a half octaves. It had eight holes and usually had one or twokeys. Problably it was a developing of the recorder.
The clarinet is a cylindrical bore with a mouthpiece like a beak and uses a single reed. The lower end flares out like a bell. Modern clarinetsare made of ebony and have 20 or more holes to produce different pitches.
With a clarinet you can play as softly as a whisper, but also loudly enough to be heard above an orchestra. It can producevery low and very high notes because it has a range of more than three octaves.

Clarinets are the followings parts:
• The reed is attached to the mouthpiece by the ligature and this isheld 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 theembouchure.
• The barrel is between the mouthpiece and the main body of the clarinet. This pat of the instrument may be extended in order to the tuning of the clarinet.
• The main body ofthe clarinet is divided (except in the Eb clarinet) into the upper joint (left hand) and the lower joint (right hand).
• Finally, the flared end is known as the bell, which amplifies thesound.

All clarinets (except for the C clarinet) are transposing instruments, meaning that the sound and written pitches are different. Clarinets are of different sizes. The most common varietiesare:
• Bb clarinet: this is the standard clarinet used for band, orchestra and jazz band.
• A clarinet: standard orchestral instrument used with the Bb clarinet. Orchestral...