Clarinet


The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodwind family, ranging from the BB♭ contrabass to the A♭ piccolo. The B soprano clarinet is the most common type, and is the instrument usually indicated by the word "clarinet".
German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet sometime around 1700 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, an earlier single-reed instrument. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Today the clarinet is a standard fixture of the orchestra and concert band and is used in classical music, military bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles.

Etymology

The word "clarinet" may have entered the English language via the French clarinette, or from Provençal clarin, originating from the Latin root clarus. The word is related to Middle English clarion, a type of trumpet, the name of which derives from the same root.
The earliest mention of the word "clarinette" being used for the instrument dates to a 1710 order placed by the Duke of Gronsfeld for two instruments made by Jacob Denner. The English form "clarinet" is found as early as 1733, and the now-archaic "clarionet" appears from 1784 until the early 20th century.
A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist, a clarinettist, or simply a clarinet player.

Development

The modern clarinet developed from a Baroque instrument called the chalumeau. This instrument was similar to a recorder, but with a single-reed mouthpiece and a cylindrical bore. Lacking a register key, it was played mainly in its fundamental register, with a limited range of about one and a half octaves. It had eight finger holes, like a recorder, and a written pitch range from F3 to G4. At this time, contrary to modern practice, the reed was placed in contact with the upper lip.
Around the beginning of the 18th century the German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner equipped a chalumeau in the alto register with two keys, one of which enabled access to a higher register. This second register did not begin an octave above the first, as with other woodwind instruments, but started an octave and a perfect fifth higher than the first. A second key, at the top, extended the range of the first register to A4 and, together with the register key, to B4. Later, Denner lengthened the bell and provided it with a third key to extend the pitch range down to E3.
After Denner's innovations, other makers added keys to improve tuning and facilitate fingerings and the chalumeau fell into disuse. The clarinet of the Classical period, as used by Mozart, typically had five keys. Mozart suggested extending the clarinet downwards by four semitones to C, which resulted in the basset clarinet that was about longer, made first by Theodor Lotz. In 1791 Mozart composed the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A major for this instrument, with passages ranging down to C3. By the time of Beethoven, the clarinet was a fixed member in the orchestra.
The number of keys was limited because their felt pads did not seal tightly. Iwan Müller invented the stuffed pad, originally made of kid leather. These in combination with countersunk tone holes sealed the keyholes sufficiently to permit the use of an increased number of keys. In 1812 Müller presented a clarinet with seven finger holes and thirteen keys, which he called "clarinet omnitonic" since it was capable of playing in all keys. It was no longer necessary to use differently tuned clarinets for different keys. Müller is also considered the inventor of the metal ligature and the thumb rest. During this period the typical embouchure also changed, orienting the mouthpiece with the reed facing downward. This was first recommended in 1782 and became standard by the 1830s.
In the late 1830s, German flute maker Theobald Böhm invented a ring and axle key system for the flute. This key system was first used on the clarinet between 1839 and 1843 by French clarinetist Hyacinthe Klosé in collaboration with instrument maker Louis Auguste Buffet. Their design introduced needle springs for the axles, and the ring keys simplified some complicated fingering patterns. The inventors called this the Boehm clarinet, although Böhm was not involved in its development and the system differed from the one used on the flute. Other key systems have been developed, many built around modifications to the basic Boehm system, including the Full Boehm, Mazzeo, McIntyre, the Benade NX, and the Reform Boehm system, which combined Boehm-system keywork with a German mouthpiece and bore.
The Albert clarinet was developed by Eugène Albert in 1848. This model was based on the Müller clarinet with some changes to keywork, and was also known as the "simple system". It included a "spectacle key" patented by Adolphe Sax and rollers to improve little-finger movement. After 1861, a "patent C sharp" key developed by Joseph Tyler was added to other clarinet models. Improved versions of Albert clarinets were built in Belgium and France for export to the UK and the US.
Around 1860, clarinettist Carl Baermann and instrument maker Georg Ottensteiner developed the patented Baermann/Ottensteiner clarinet. This instrument had new connecting levers, allowing multiple fingering options to operate some of the pads. In the early 20th century, the German clarinetist and clarinet maker Oskar Oehler presented a clarinet using similar fingerings to the Baermann instrument, with significantly more toneholes than the Böhm model. The new clarinet was called the Oehler system clarinet or German clarinet, while the Böhm clarinet has since been called the French clarinet. The French clarinet differs from the German not only in fingering but also in sound. Richard Strauss noted that "French clarinets have a flat, nasal tone, while German ones approximate the singing voice". Among modern instruments the difference is smaller, although intonation differences persist. The use of Oehler clarinets has continued in German and Austrian orchestras.
Today the Boehm system is standard everywhere except in Germany and Austria, where the Oehler clarinet is still used. Some contemporary Dixieland players continue to use Albert system clarinets. The Reform Boehm system is also popular in the Netherlands.

Acoustics

The clarinet's cylindrical bore is the main reason for its distinctive timbre, which varies between the three main registers. The A and B clarinets have nearly the same bore and nearly identical tonal quality, although the A typically has a slightly warmer sound. The tone of the E clarinet is brighter and can be heard through loud orchestral textures. The bass clarinet has a characteristically deep, mellow sound, and the alto clarinet sounds similar to the bass, though not as dark.
The production of sound by a clarinet follows these steps:
  1. The mouthpiece and reed are surrounded by the player's lips, which put light, even pressure on the reed and form an airtight seal. Air is blown past the reed and down the instrument. In the same way a flag flaps in the breeze, the air rushing past the reed causes it to vibrate. As air pressure from the mouth increases, the amount the reed vibrates increases until the reed hits the mouthpiece.
The reed stays pressed against the mouthpiece until either the springiness of the reed forces it to open or a returning pressure wave 'bumps' into the reed and opens it. Each time the reed opens, a puff of air goes through the gap, after which the reed swings shut again. When played loudly, the reed can spend up to 50% of the time shut. The 'puff of air' or compression wave travels down the cylindrical tube and escapes at the point where the tube opens out. This is either at the closest open hole or at the end of the tube.
  1. More than a 'neutral' amount of air escapes from the instrument, which creates a slight vacuum or rarefaction in the clarinet tube. This rarefaction wave travels back up the tube.
  2. The rarefaction is reflected off the sloping end wall of the clarinet mouthpiece. The opening between the reed and the mouthpiece makes very little difference to the reflection of the rarefaction wave. This is because the opening is very small compared to the size of the tube, so almost the entire wave is reflected back down the tube even if the reed is completely open at the time the wave hits.
  3. When the rarefaction wave reaches the other end of the tube, air rushes in to fill the slight vacuum. A little more than a 'neutral' amount of air enters the tube and causes a compression wave to travel back up the tube. Once the compression wave reaches the mouthpiece end of the 'tube', it is reflected again back down the pipe. However at this point, either because the compression wave 'bumped' the reed or because of the natural vibration cycle of the reed, the gap opens and another 'puff' of air is sent down the pipe.
  4. The original compression wave, now greatly reinforced by the second 'puff' of air, sets off on another two trips down the pipe before the cycle is repeated again.
In addition to this primary compression wave, other waves, known as harmonics, are created. Harmonics are caused by factors including the imperfect wobbling and shaking of the reed, the reed sealing the mouthpiece opening for part of the wave cycle, and imperfections in the bore. A wide variety of compression waves are created, but only some are reinforced. This in combination with the cut-off frequency results in the characteristic tone of the clarinet.
The bore is cylindrical for most of the tube with an inner bore diameter between, but there is a subtle hourglass shape, with the thinnest part below the junction between the upper and lower joint. This hourglass shape, although invisible to the naked eye, helps to correct the pitch and responsiveness of the instrument. The diameter of the bore affects the instrument's sound characteristics. The bell at the bottom of the clarinet flares out to improve the tone and tuning of the lowest notes. Modern standard clarinets are tuned to 440 to 442 Hz—concert pitch is 440 Hz—but adjusting the length of the bore can alter tuning, for example to match the pitch of a larger ensemble. Other factors that impact tuning include temperature and dynamics.
Most modern clarinets have "undercut" tone holes that improve intonation and sound. Undercutting means chamfering the bottom edge of tone holes inside the bore. Acoustically, this makes the tone hole function as if it were larger, but its main function is to allow the air column to follow the curve up through the tone hole instead of "blowing past" it under the increasingly directional frequencies of the upper registers. Covering or uncovering the tone holes varies the length of the pipe, changing the resonant frequencies of the enclosed air column and hence the pitch. The player moves between the chalumeau and clarion registers through use of the register key. The open register key stops the fundamental frequency from being reinforced, making the reed vibrate at three times the frequency, which produces a note a twelfth above the original note.
The fixed reed and fairly uniform diameter of the clarinet result in an acoustical performance approximating that of a cylindrical stopped pipe. Recorders use a tapered internal bore to overblow at the octave when the thumb/register hole is pinched open, while the clarinet, with its cylindrical bore, overblows at the twelfth. The low chalumeau register plays fundamentals, but the clarion register plays the third harmonics, a perfect twelfth higher than the fundamentals. The first several notes of the altissimo range, aided by the register key and venting with the first left-hand hole, play the fifth harmonics, a perfect twelfth plus a major sixth above the fundamentals. The fifth and seventh harmonics are also available, sounding a further sixth and fourth higher respectively; these are the notes of the altissimo register.
The lip position and pressure, shaping of the vocal tract, choice of reed and mouthpiece, amount of air pressure created, and evenness of the airflow account for most of the player's ability to control the tone of a clarinet. Their vocal tract will be shaped to resonate at frequencies associated with the tone being produced.
Vibrato, a pulsating change of pitch, is rare in classical literature; however, certain performers, such as Richard Stoltzman, use vibrato in classical music. Other effects are glissando, growling, trumpet sounds, double tongue, flutter tongue and circular breathing. Special lip-bending may be used to play microtonal intervals. There have also been efforts to create a quarter tone clarinet.