Woodwind Instrument: A Clarinet

A clarinet is a woodwind instrument. Most clarinets are made of wood. The instrument consists of a tube with a mouthpiece at one end and a bell-shaped opening at the other end. A clarinet has open tone holes and other holes covered by small metal levers called keys. The musician places his or her fingertips on the holes and keys and blows on a flat cane reed attached to the mouthpiece. The reed vibrates, producing a full, rich tone. The musician plays different notes by covering or uncovering various holes. Clarinets are manufactured in five pitches. The B-flat soprano clarinet is the most popular.

Johann Cristoph Denner made the clarinet in Germany in the 18th century by adding regester key to the earlier chalumeau.Over time additional keywork and alright pads were added to inprove tone and playabilty.Today the clarinet is used as jazz and classic ensenbeles, in camber groops,and solo instrument.

There are many typs of clarinets the chalumeau,E flat clarenet,soprano clarinet,alto clarinet,bass clarinet,basenet horn,contry alto clarinet,contrabass clarinet,and piccolo clarinet. First spelled klarinette. Used orchestrally as military bands.Clarinets have the largest pitch range of common woodwinds.[7] The intricate key organization that makes this range possible can make the playability of some passages awkward. The bottom of the clarinet’s written range is defined by the keywork on each instrument, standard keywork schemes allowing a low E on the common B♭ clarinet. The lowest concert pitch depends on thetransposition of the instrument in question

Nearly all soprano and piccolo clarinets have keywork enabling them to play the E below middle C as their lowest written note (in scientific pitch notation that sounds D3 on a soprano clarinet or C4, i.e. concert middle C, on a piccolo clarinet), though some B♭ clarinets go down to E♭3 to enable them to match the range of the A clarinet.[8] On the B♭ soprano clarinet, the concert pitch of the lowest note is D3, a whole tone lower than the written pitch. Most alto and bass clarinets have an extra key to allow a (written) E♭3. Modern professional-quality bass clarinets generally have additional keywork to written C3.[9] Among the less commonly encountered members of the clarinet family, contra-alto and contrabass clarinets may have keywork to written E♭3, D3, or C3;[10] the basset clarinet and basset horn generally go to low.

1. The mouthpiece and reed are surrounded by the player’s lips, which put light, even pressure on the reed and form an air tight seal.