THE ORCHESTRA: A USER'S MANUAL

Introduction	Orchestration	Orchestration	Resources	Historical	Philharmonia
	by section woodwinds brass percussion others strings combinations tuttis	by instrument flutes oboes clarinets bassoons saxophones horns trumpets trombones tubas percussion keyboards harps fretted strings voices electronics violins violas cellos basses conductors	select... score layouts seating plans ranges/transpositions harmonic series language/phonetics notation charts	select... 20th/21st Century 19th Century Classical Baroque pre-Baroque

CLARINET

Section: Woodwind
Transposing? Yes

Construction
Range
Articulations
Effects
Extended
Player's Tips and Tricks

Links

 

Construction

First, Mark van de Wiel describes the clarinets:

the body of the instrument
the reed
the history of the clarinet
the evolution of the modern instruments
clarinets in Bb and A
clarinet in Eb
the registers of the clarinet

clarinet solo from Stravinsky's Petrouchka
Eb clarinet solo from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

Now, Michael Harris does the same for the bass and other clarinets:

the bass clarinet
keywork on the bass clarinet
the low register of the bass clarinet
low register keys on the bass clarinet
the middle register of the bass clarinet
the top register of the bass clarinet
differences between soprano and bass clarinets
tuning issues on the bass clarinet
tuning with other instruments
a panshot up the instrument

the contrabass clarinet
the basset horn

Three melodic fragments played on the bass clarinet: