The clarinet is a wind instrument consisting of a cylindrical wood (or
occasionally metal) pipe with a bell-shaped opening at one end and a
mouthpiece at the other end, to which a reed is attached. Generically, the
clarinet is any member of the woodwind family, whose enclosed air column
is activated by a single reed, as opposed to the double-reed instruments of
the oboe family. The clarinet is a transposing instrument -- its part in the
score is written at a pitch different from the one actually sounded.
The immediate ancestor of the clarinet was the chalumeau, a short,
cylindrical pipe with seven finger holes and a reed cut in its upper side, but
without a bell-shaped opening. The clarinet was invented when Johann C. Denner (1655-1707)
doubled the length of the chalumeau and added two keys, making possible the clarino, the upper or
trumpetlike, register. By the end of the 18th century, it was an established member of the orchestra.
Mechanical improvements gradually transformed the clarinet into one of the most versatile of all
instruments. It is capable of playing all chromatic tones with great ease, producing a tonal variety
that ranges from the somber and mysterious low tones through the bright, full-bodied clarino register
to the shrill and piercing notes of its highest octave.
Early clarinets were made in many sizes. The number of different sizes needed was reduced in the
early 19th century by adding more keys to the instrument. The B-flat clarinet is most common
today; next is the clarinet in A. The B-flat clarinet is about 60 cm (23.6 in) long and has a range of
more than three octaves. Since the end of the 19th century, a D clarinet and a bass clarinet in B-flat
have been used in large orchestras. Concert bands commonly use a small E-flat clarinet, pitched a
fourth above the B-flat clarinet; an alto clarinet in E-flat, pitched a fifth lower than the B-flat clarinet;
and a bass clarinet, pitched an octave lower than the standard instrument; these constitute the
"clarinet choir." A double-bass, or contrabass, clarinet is also used, which is pitched two octaves
lower than the standard B-flat clarinet.
The clarinet is a versatile member of the orchestra, the principal treble woodwind of the concert
band, and is used extensively in solo, chamber, and popular music. In the early 1900s the first jazz
groups that developed in New Orleans included the clarinet, as did the later Dixieland bands. The
instrument was also part of jazz orchestras and swing dance bands, such as that of clarinetist and
bandleader Benny Goodman. The clarinet is also featured in klezmer, the instrumental dance music
developed by the Jews of Eastern Europe.