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Monday, January 10, 2022

Instruments - Part 9

Clarinet

Today we examine the clarinet.  The clarinet is a single-reed instrument.  Its sound is produced by the vibration of a reed in the mouthpiece when the player blows into it.

Single-reed instruments such as the hornpipe were played in ancient times, but the clarinet is descended from a Baroque instrument called the chalumeau, similar to a recorder, but with a single-reed mouthpiece.  It had a limited range of one and a half octaves.

The photo is a clarinet, not a chalumeau.  Nobody plays the chalumeau now.

In the early 1700s, the clarinet was created by adding a register key to the chalumeau, which transposed the notes to a higher pitch and doubled its range to more than three octaves, the widest range of any woodwind instrument.  This makes it extremely useful in the orchestra.

The wide range is also useful in a marching band, where clarinets can play the notes that violins would play in an orchestra.  The fellow playing the clarinet above seems to be set up as a one-man band.

Clarinets have also become indispensable in jazz bands.  The guy above is certainly playing with feeling.

We end with a photo of a clarinet player by Arthur Tress called The Music Lesson.  What's going on?  That's for you to imagine.

2 comments:

Big Dude said...

I once heard a French friend refer to the cock as "la clarinette baveuse," the "wet clarinet."

SickoRicko said...

Perhaps the fellow in the last image is getting his lessons for free if he's willing to be naked for the instructor.