The clarinet is a single-reed woodwind instrument that emerged in the early 18th century as an improved descendant of earlier reed instruments such as the chalumeau, which provided the mouthpiece and single-reed principle but had a limited range and weak upper register.

Its name came from the Italian clarinetto, a diminutive of clarino, an old term for a high Baroque trumpet. The name alluded to the clarinet's bright, trumpet-like upper register, which became clearer when the new register key allowed higher notes to sound.

The invention of the clarinet is traditionally credited to the Nuremberg woodwind maker Johann Christoph Denner around the opening decades of the 1700s, when he adapted and extended the chalumeau, added a register key, and increased the instrument's range and dynamic possibilities.

The new instrument quickly entered ensembles and the emerging orchestra. Some of the earliest known orchestral uses appear in the 1710s and 1720s, and solo and chamber repertoire for the instrument began to appear soon after.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries, the clarinet underwent steady refinement, with additional keys, changes in bore and mouthpiece design, and experiments with materials and keywork improved intonation, facility, and range.

Traditional professional clarinets are made of dense hardwoods such as grenadilla (African blackwood) or, less commonly, boxwood or ebony, while student instruments are often made from ABS or other plastics for durability and lower cost. Sound is produced by a single reed fixed to a mouthpiece. The mouthpiece shape and reed strength are primary determinants of tone and response. The clarinet's largely cylindrical bore and the placement and size of tone holes create its distinctive timbre and its characteristic overblowing pattern, which produces a twelfth rather than an octave when the register key is used. This acoustic behavior is central to the instrument's fingering systems and repertoire demands. From the earliest simple keyed clarinets, instrument makers gradually added more keys and improved mechanisms to allow chromaticism, better intonation, and technical agility. The modern Boehm and Oehler systems represent two major keywork families used today.

The main types of clarinets include the B♭ clarinet (the standard orchestral and band instrument, ubiquitous in classical, jazz, and popular music), A clarinet (slightly longer than the B♭, and commonly used in orchestral and chamber music because many works are written in keys that transpose more conveniently on A clarinet), Bass clarinet (extended lower range with a curved metal neck and bell, used in orchestra, wind band, jazz, and contemporary music), E♭ clarinet (smaller, higher-pitched, with a bright, piercing tone, frequent in orchestral and military band writing), Contra-bass and Contrabass clarinets (very low instruments used occasionally in large wind works and contemporary ensemble music), and Alto, Basset clarinet, and historical instruments (variants include basset horns, mid-range, often in F, and historical chalumeaux and classical clarinets reconstructed for period performance practice).

The clarinet became a standard orchestral voice in the Classical era, with major solo and chamber roles through Mozart, Weber, Brahms, and several others. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet remain cornerstones of the repertoire. The clarinet is also used in chamber music, accompanied by strings, piano, and wind ensembles. Solo works exploit its wide range and expressive contrasts. From early New Orleans ensembles through swing and bebop to modern jazz, the clarinet has played leading roles. Its flexibility and agility made it a favored solo voice in early jazz and big band arrangements. The clarinet is central to Ashkenazi klezmer music and appears in numerous folk traditions worldwide, where single-reed pipes evolved independently or were adopted into local styles. Modern composers exploit extended techniques, microtonality, multiphonics, and electronics to expand the clarinet's sonic palette, often calling for the full family of clarinets, including contra instruments.

The clarinet offers a wide range and expressive flexibility. Its nearly four-octave practical range and the distinct contrast between its lower chalumeau register, rich middle register, and bright upper register give it unusual expressive scope. Its cylindrical bore and single-reed mechanism produce a clear, focused tone that can blend with strings and brass, or stand out as a solo voice, which contributed to its rapid orchestral adoption. Because the clarinet overblows at the twelfth, its fingering system and the design of keywork differ from those of the flute and oboe families, creating unique technical demands and opportunities for virtuosic writing.

Recommended Resources

Search for Clarinet on Google or Bing