Clarinet

Clarinet
	a Boehm clarinet and an Albert clarinet
Woodwind instrument
Classification	Woodwind
Playing range

Clarinet being played by a marching band. Surrounding the clarinetist are other instruments, such as a saxophone.

The clarinet is a woodwind instrument.

The clarinet body is made up of the mouthpiece, barrel, upper joint, pads, keys, ring key, rod, lower joint, and bell. The clarinet has one reed. The reed is made of cane, bamboo or plastic, which varies in thickness. The reed is attached to the mouthpiece with a clamp called a ligature, which is usually made out of metal. Blowing through the mouthpiece makes the reed vibrate, and therefore makes the noise. The body of the clarinet is a cylindrical tube with holes. The holes are covered by the fingers to make musical notes. There are also buttons pressed by the fingers which allow pads over holes to open or close so all notes of the chromatic scale can be played. The buttons are usually played with the "pinkie" finger.

The three main key systems on the clarinet are the Albert system, the Oehler system, and the Boehm system. The Boehm clarinet is the most common by classical orchestras and by jazz musicians. In North America and other Western countries, the most popular clarinet is the clarinet pitched in B flat. This means that if a clarinet player plays a note that is written as a C, it sounds like a B flat on a piano. The B flat clarinet is used in concert, marching, and school bands. Musicians in orchestras also play the A-clarinet (a semitone lower), the sopranino E flat clarinet (a fourth higher) and the bass clarinet in B flat (sounding an octave lower).

A beginner clarinet player usually can play a note within the first minutes of a lesson. Making a sound with the clarinet is easier than making a sound with many other wind instruments. Most instrumental music teachers consider it to be a good instrument for young players as soon as the lower adult teeth have grown. The fingering system is very similar to the flute and the saxophone, so changing from playing the clarinet to one of these instruments is not too difficult after the student is comfortable playing the clarinet and has reached a certain level.

A famous piece that features a clarinet is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, which has the clarinet playing the melody with the rest of the orchestra playing along. Written in 1791, it is often considered the first great composition for the instrument.

Components

Components in case

Notable players

Clarinet Media

The range of a clarinet. This when it is written.
Sound wave propagation in the soprano clarinet
Fritz Schüller's quarter-tone clarinet
The construction of a Boehm system clarinet
Mouthpiece with conical ring ligature, made from hard rubber
Two-key clarinet with fingering chart, from Museum musicum theoreticalo practicum, 1732
Diderotclarinette
Sketch of the basset clarinet used by Anton Stadler since 1789 and a replica
Publicity photo of musician Pete Fountain from his appearance on a Bing Crosby television special.
turkish clarinet,