The clarinet is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument. Like many wind instruments, clarinets are made in several different sizes, each having its own range of pitches. All have a nearly-cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and utilize a mouthpiece with a single reed. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist.
Anton Paul Stadler was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote, amongst others, both his Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Concerto. Stadler's name is inextricably linked to Mozart's compositions for these two instruments.
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is usually pitched in B♭, but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B♭ clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare. Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles and concert bands, and occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular.
The basset horn is a member of the clarinet family of musical instruments.
The basset clarinet is member of the clarinet family similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C or B, as opposed to the standard clarinet's E or E♭. The basset clarinet is most commonly a transposing instrument in A, although basset clarinets in C and B♭ and very seldom in G also exist. The similarly named basset horn is also a clarinet with extended lower range, but is in a lower pitch ; the basset horn predates, and undoubtedly inspired, the basset clarinet.
The contra-alto clarinet or E♭ contrabass clarinet is a large clarinet pitched a perfect fifth below the B♭ bass clarinet. Contra-alto clarinets are a transposing instrument in E♭ sounding an octave and a major sixth below its written pitch. As it is pitched between the bass clarinet and the B♭ contrabass clarinet, the contra-alto clarinet is the great bass member of the clarinet family.
The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E♭, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a greater resemblance to the bass clarinet in that it typically has a straight body, but a curved neck and bell made of metal. All-metal alto clarinets also exist. In appearance it strongly resembles the basset horn, but usually differs in three respects: it is pitched a whole step lower, it lacks an extended lower range, and it has a wider bore than many basset horns.
A clarinet choir is a musical ensemble consisting entirely of instruments from the clarinet family. It will typically include E♭, B♭, alto, bass, and contra-alto or contrabass clarinets, although sometimes not all of these are included, and sometimes other varieties may be present. The size of the ensemble varies; it may have between 10 and 40 members. There are also clarinet trios, clarinet quartets, and clarinet quintets, usually consisting of two to four B♭ clarinets and one bass clarinet.
The Boehm system for the clarinet is a system of clarinet keywork, developed between 1839 and 1843 by Hyacinthe Klosé and Auguste Buffet jeune. The name is somewhat deceptive; the system was inspired by Theobald Boehm's system for the flute, but necessarily differs from it, since the clarinet overblows at the twelfth rather than the flute's octave. Boehm himself was not involved in its development.
The clarinet family is a musical instrument family including the well-known B♭ clarinet, the bass clarinet, the slightly less familiar E♭ and A clarinets and other clarinets.
Carl Baermann was a clarinetist and composer from Munich, Germany.
Sharon Kam is an Israeli–German clarinetist. She won the ARD International Music Competition in 1992.
Art Christmas was a Canadian dance band and jazz musician. For many years during the exciting dance band and jazz era of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Art Christmas was often said to be Britain's leading saxophone player and multi-instrumentalist. In the 1930s and 1940s, young musicians in their teens and early twenties would follow Art all over Britain listening to him play and trying to copy his style, especially on alto saxophone.
Suzanne Stephens is an American clarinetist, resident in Germany, described as "an outstanding performer and tireless promoter of the clarinet and basset horn".
The woodwind section, which consists of woodwind instruments, is one of the main sections of an orchestra or concert band. Woodwind sections contain instruments given Hornbostel-Sachs classifications of 421 and 422, but exclude 423
The Reform Boehm system is a modified Boehm system for the clarinet. It was developed with the aim of producing clarinets with the Boehm keywork, the sound of which is similar to that of the German clarinet.
Backun Musical Services Ltd. (BMS) is a Canadian manufacturer of clarinets in B♭ and A and accessories, based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Seggelke Klarinetten, is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Bamberg in the Bavarian Upper Franconia. The company manufactures clarinets according to the German handle system and the French system as well as in a combination of both systems, starting from the Boehm system. A specialty of the company is the reproduction of historical clarinets.
Jens Thoben is a German clarinetist and a orchestra and chamber musician. He is faculty professor for clarinet and chamber music at Lübeck Academy of Music and certified teacher of Lichtenberger® Applied Physiology of the Voice. His musical interest is broad and applies in particular to formats that cross genres.
Ross Gorman was an American jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist. Gorman is best remembered for his work with Paul Whiteman, particularly his famous clarinet glissando for Rhapsody in Blue, on which he also played oboe, bass clarinet, and saxophone. The glissando came as the result of an experiment by Gorman, who, according to Whiteman's violinist Kurt Dieterlie, was known for his ability to "make incredibly odd sounds with his instrument."
