Read on for our guide to the clarinet, an instrument with a distinctively fluid, lyrical sound, and one of the best known members of the woodwind family.
What is a clarinet?
A clarinet is a woodwind instrument with a cylindrical body, a flared bell and a single-reed mouthpiece. An essential component of orchestras, as well as many jazz, military and klezmer bands, it has an absolutely huge repertoire and is one of the most versatile instruments in the world.
What does the clarinet sound like?
If I were to pick one word to define the clarinet’s sound, it would probably be ‘mellow’. Unlike an oboe, whose sound is a little more bright and acidic, the clarinet has a dark, rounded timbre. If I were to unleash my inner poet, I'd say this was something akin to the difference between citrus fruit and blueberries. But the clarinet is capable of sounding shrill, comical, melancholy, tear-jerking - and all sorts of things besides!
Are clarinets hard to play?
They are and they aren’t. Much like the flute, getting a sound out of a clarinet in the first place is quite tricky. Plus, learning to play the clarinet is almost as much about mastering the art of reed-chiselling as it is about the instrument itself, as many clarinet reeds need a bit of DIY finessing before they are good to go. But once all of that is in place, the fingering system is pretty logical and the sound itself easier to control than it is on many other woodwind instruments.
Is the flute or clarinet easier?
For beginners, I’d say the flute, as its fingerings tend to be simpler, and it also allows you to avoid the whole headache of reeds altogether. At a high level, though, both flute and clarinet require an enormous amount of breath control. Plus, since flute music is often very quick and fiddly, it demands exceptional finger coordination. So, all in all, the jury’s out.
How do you play the clarinet?
You start by holding the top stack with your left hand and the bottom with your right, while placing your fingers on the respective keyholes. Then you put the mouthpiece in your mouth, with you bottom lip over your bottom teeth, your top teeth on the mouthpiece and the reed resting on your bottom lip. Finally, you blow air into the instrument while keeping the corners of your mouth tightly sealed around it. Be careful not to puff out your cheeks!
Those are the basics, but of course the reality is a little more complicated. This video will guide you through the first steps to becoming a virtuoso clarinettist.
Is there more than one kind of clarinet?
Yes indeed. In fact, there are no fewer than 11 forms of clarinet. They are (deep breath): the A flat, E flat soprano clarinet, B flat soprano (the commonest form of clarinet), A harmony, alto clarinet, Basset horn, bass clarinet, D clarinet, contra-alto and contrabass. Whew!
Help! Why so many? And what does this all mean?
Like the trumpet and saxophone, some clarinets have a higher range, and some are lower. And all are transposing instruments, where the written note doesn’t represent the exact pitch that is heard. You may well be thinking, “what sort of a sadist would dream up such a complicated system?” but there is some sense to it.
You see, transposing instruments allow musicians to see their instruments’ ranges as lying mostly on the staff, even if they actually sound mostly above or below the staff (think of the piccolo for example, with its stratospheric range). That way, you simplify the business of reading music, rather than forcing musicians to read lots of ledger lines or sharps and flats.
Why is the B flat clarinet the commonest?
The B flat clarinet is the most common type of clarinet because it’s the most most flexible, versatile and easy to play for beginners. It is pitched in the key of B flat, so that when it plays a C, it sounds like a B flat - so a tone lower.
When was the clarinet invented?
The clarinet was invented around 1700 by Johann Christoph Denner, a German instrument maker.
What is the clarinet made of?
Clarinets are made from a variety of materials, including wood, plastic, hard rubber, metal and ivory. The most common materials are wood and plastic.
What is the range of a clarinet?
Now, this one varies from clarinet to clarinet. The range of the most common, the B flat clarinet, extends from the E below middle C to the A one octave higher than the A above the Treble clef. That’s getting on for four octaves.
How expensive is the clarinet?
It depends on what you want to get out of it. A good quality, brand new student clarinet might typically cost around £150. But you can expect to pay upwards of £3600 for a good professional clarinet.
What are the best clarinet works?
Let’s start with the most obvious: Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto was the first to be written by a major composer and has remained a classical chart topper ever since, awash as it is with gorgeous melodies - particularly in its luscious slow movement.
‘Never,’ wrote Mozart to clarinettist Anton Stadler, for whom he wrote the piece in 1789: ‘would I have thought that a clarinet could be capable of imitating the human voice as deceptively as it is imitated by you. Truly your instrument has so soft and lovely a tone that nobody with a heart could resist it.’
Nobody would agree with this more than the classical composer Carl Maria von Weber, who is perhaps the instrument’s greatest champion of all time, having written six clarinet works, including two concertos, a concertino and a set of variations. Of his two clarinet concertos, the first is perhaps the most famous but I'm going to go with the Second, whose second movement, in particular, will turn you to mush.
Another key player in the clarinet repertoire is Brahms's Clarinet Sonata No.2 in E flat: the opening tune alone justifies the work’s place on this list. Brahms also wrote a wonderful Clarinet Quintet, as did Mozart: indeed, there's plenty of beautiful chamber music for the instrument.
Striding forward a couple of centuries, you’ll find Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto, whose intriguing mixture of folksiness and flamboyance is a real one-off.
Then there’s Copland's Clarinet Concerto, which the American composer wrote for the jazz clarinettist Benny Goodman. Combining lyricism, jazz, Latin American influences, as well as wit and virtuosity, it’s a stunning showcase for Copland’s versatility.
As for orchestral music: surely there can be no prouder moment for an orchestral clarinettist than playing that slinky opening solo in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue?
And the clarinet interjection in the second movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 takes the prize for sheer drama.
Who are the most famous clarinettists?
Martin Fröst, who hails from Sweden, might just be the most famous clarinettist in the world. He is certainly up there with the very best of them, in a group that also includes the Turkish clarinettist Hüsnü Şenlendirici, the British clarinettist Emma Johnson, and Anthony McGill, the trailblazing principal clarinettist of the New York Philharmonic.
From an earlier generation of clarinet royalty, Richard Stoltzman (USA), Sabine Meyer (Germany) and Michael Collins (UK) are three of the biggest names to contend with. And the ’King of Swing’, Benny Goodman, who played a massive role in bringing jazz to mainstream audiences in the 1930s and 1940s, deserves a whole category to himself.
