The Classroom Resource The Clarinet petty Clarinet What does a clarinet look like? What Is... The clarinet is a narrow tube that you hold vertically, like a recorder. It looks quite similar to the oboe but instead of a double-reed it has a single-reed attached to a mouthpiece. embouchure Most modern clarinets are made out of a black wood such as African Hardwood, with Embouchure in clarinet a reed made out of cane and a mouthpiece made out of hard rubber. The clarinet has terms describes the five parts; the mouthpiece, the barrel joint, formation of the player’s Mouthpiece the upper joint, the lower joint and the bell. A system of keys and tone holes runs down the mouth around the length of the instrument. mouthpiece and reed. A bit of clarinet history All wind and brass players The clarinet developed quite late in the history of the orchestra. It wasn’t until have an embouchure, but Denner turned the chalumeau into the clarinetto in the 18th century that the clarinet had the versatility to work as an orchestral instrument. Denner’s advances saw the in instruments without a clarinet grow in pitch range (see classroom task about pitch) and in its ability to reed (such as the fute or jump between different notes quickly. The modern clarinet has three basic registers, known as chalumeau (after the clarinet’s historic predecessor), clarion and altissimo. trumpet), the embouchure The actual sound each clarinet makes can vary hugely though, depending on the is simply the formation player, the mouthpiece, the temperature and of course the type of music it is playing. of the mouth on the Different countries have developed quite different styles of playing the clarinet, with the prominent ‘schools’ those of Germany and France. Modern clarinets mouthpiece. have developed so far since the early days of the chalumeau that really advanced clarinettists can make the clarinet do pretty much anything you can imagine! Changes to the strength or shape of a player’s The modern clarinet embouchure afect The clarinet has been incredibly popular in the last 100 years, mainly through its use in jazz. It was an important instrument in early jazz from about the year 1910 the sound or tuning and featured often in big band jazz and in dixie-land jazz. Classical clarinet music (intonation) of their remains popular as well; whenever radio stations put together charts of the world’s most popular classical music, you can bet that Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto will be in instrument. the top ten! Auxilliary Instruments The clarinet family is the largest a B-flat clarinet as it usually has a silver bell family within the woodwind and a long curved neck. It is quite a heavy section. There are over 12 different instrument and so you will notice that bass types of modern clarinet, ranging clarinettists often have a neck strap or a peg Repertoire from the contrabass clarinet (the which supports the clarinet on the floor. lowest) to the sopranino clarinet Composers who used the bass clarinet a lot in that features the clarinet (the highest). One of the most their orchestral writing include Berlioz, Ravel The clarinet has been popular as a concerto frequently used types of clarinet and Wagner. Mahler used the bass clarinet in instrument and in chamber music. Famous in the symphony orchestra is the all of his symphonies and wrote some famous clarinet concertos include those by Mozart, bass clarinet. The bass clarinet solos for the instrument. Listen to Mahler’s Weber and Copland. There are many great has a very characteristic deep and Symphony No. 6 for an example of a bass clarinet chamber pieces, such as the Clarinet mellow sound. It looks different to clarinet solo. Quintets by Mozart and Brahms. Research Task... Another type of music that features the clarinet is Klezmer. Can you fnd out what Klezmer music is? NZSO Music for Schools - Rachel Hyde ©2011 nzso.co.nz/education The Classroom Resource The Clarinet Clarinet timpani percussion Trombone The clarinet in the orchestra french TUBA Composers use the clarinet in many ways as it is such a versatile instrument. It can horn play very high and very low; it can be extremely acrobatic or it can play long and trumpet winding melodies; it can sound bright and cheerful or desperately sad. Although in Clarinet the classical era you would usually only see two clarinets in an orchestra, in modern Bassoon times the clarinet section has really expanded, allowing composers to exploit all the oboe characters of the clarinet. Composers such as Mahler and Stravinsky would often flute double use at least two normal B-flat clarinets, plus an E-flat clarinet, a bass clarinet, an alto 2n bass clarinet or even a basset horn. harp Violind Can you find out how many clarinettists are in the NZSO? Cello 1st Violin Research Task... Viola When was the classical era of music? Use the internet to fnd names for the periods of music from 1500 to the modern day. The clarinet family has the largest pitch range of any woodwind instrument. A contrabass clarinet can play a C three octaves below middle C and a soprano clarinet can Classroom play an A-fat three octaves above middle C. • Try singing your lowest note and then your Task... highest note. Now fnd a piano and work out what those notes were that you just sang. Ask your teacher to help if you are not sure what the notes • Understanding range on the piano are. • Compare your range to that of the clarinet family. An example of the clarinet family range: NZSO Music for Schools - Rachel Hyde ©2011 nzso.co.nz/education.