Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument from the woodwind family that consists of a mouthpiece with a single reed. Within the orchestra, it is found in the woodwind section, along with the flute, the oboe, the saxophone and bassoon.

Parts on: nozzle, barrel, upper body; parts below: lower body, bell

Description

The clarinet belongs to the woodwind family, along with the flute, oboe, and bassoon. It is a single reed aerophone. The reed is made of cane of the species Arundo donax. The body of the instrument can be made of wood (traditionally ebony or blackwood), ebonite, ABS and its refinement, in the 19th century, with an improved key system, placed it in a privileged place among instruments. The beauty of its timbre makes it suitable for interpreting passages as a soloist, as well as being an instrument of enormous agility and sonority, especially for the execution of trills and chromaticisms.

The name comes from the term clarín, which was used in the past to refer to a natural trumpet used in its highest register. In the Baroque, an increasingly broad use of those treble trumpet notes was required because in this way the most complete melodically register could be used, since when going up the range of harmonics they are more united there than in the low register. where the intervals are larger. Today this is combated in brass instruments through the use of pistons or valves, but in the 17th century trumpeters had to achieve it thanks to their technique and skill, combining the strength of the diaphragm and the dexterity of the embouchure. They also had to know how to interpret quite virtuous melodic lines with all kinds of chromatic alteration. So sometimes they made this difficult task easier by using a chalumeau in their high register or a "clarinet" (little "clarion"). For this reason, the lowest register of the clarinet is called 'chalumeau'. and the next one, made up of the first harmonics, 'clarín'.

The timbre of the clarinet is rich in nuances and expressive possibilities. Along with the flute and the violin, it is the most agile instrument in the orchestra; It can emit any extreme nuance in any of its registers, which makes this instrument an extremely versatile voice. This ability to emit extreme nuances in any register is unique among all wind instruments. It is also one of the instruments with one of the largest range spans: the soprano reaches almost four octaves (from an E2 and above to the player's capabilities) and modern extended bass clarinets exceed four octaves.

Its characteristic timbre is due to the cylindrical geometry of its body, which produces a near cancellation of the even harmonics, which —from the spectral point of view— makes it similar to a square wave. As a consequence, when the performer opens the mouthpiece, the note jump is not eight notes as in the oboe, the bassoon (whose geometry is conical) or the flute (in which, even though it is cylindrical, the tube is an open cylinder).), but of twelve (that is, an octave plus a fifth). The second harmonic (even) has been ignored. The most widespread system currently in the design of clarinet keys is that of Böhm.

Great works and concertos have been written for the clarinet, including one of the most valued concertos in history, the Concerto in A major for clarinet and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Parts

• Nozzle: it is the piece where the rod is placed and the instrumentist places the mouth to perform the embocadura. The reed is a thin strip of a material (it is only wood) that thanks to the wind that occurs when the instrumentist blows the reed vibrates producing a sound in the instrument.
• Barrel: is the element that articulates the nozzle with the upper body of the instrument.
• Upper body: is where the left hand is placed when playing and has part of the instrument mechanism.
• Lower body: is where the right hand is placed when playing and has part of the instrument mechanism.
• Campana: Located at the bottom and performs an acoustic function that allows the projection of the sound during the execution.

History

Historical Clarinete with 4 keys (~ 1760)

French Clarinete (Boehm) with 18 keys and 6 rings, developed in 1843

German Clarinete (Oehler) with 22 keys, 5 rings and a lid, developed in 1905

Clarinete "Reform-Boehm" with 20 keys and 7 rings, developed in 1949

The clarinet comes from a very old instrument. There is evidence that it existed in the Middle East (see the Zummarah or the Arghul) and that primitive and pastoral instruments were made that would be the ancestors of the clarinet, making a cut, for the mouthpiece, in a stick of cane or bamboo and adding some holes. below to change notes. In Europe, a still very simple instrument was created, the chalumeau, which became popular in France in the 15th and 16th centuries and consisted of 7 holes. Between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the chalumeau was modified so that one of the keys, until then used to add extra notes to the fundamental register, was used as a register key to produce harmonics to a twelfth (octave + fifth). above its fundamental range. At this time and from this principle the first clarinet was born. This development is usually attributed to the instrument maker, the German Johann Christoph Denner. Denner's original instruments had few keys and were missing some notes between the low register —the chalumeau— and the 'clarin', but he and other makers kept adding keys until they finished filling the gap or ';step' between the two registers An instrument with a full chromatic span of more than two and a half octaves was first made in the year 1791, the same year that he took the first post of professor of clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire and also at which Mozart wrote his celebrated concerto for the instrument. Mozart's classical clarinet typically had eight finger holes and five keys.

This marks the beginning of the evolution of the instrument to its current state, in which there are basically two types of clarinets depending on the mechanism: the Boehm system used in almost all of Europe, Asia and America and the Öhler system used in Germany, Austria and some eastern countries.

German clarinet maker Fritz Wurlitzer (father of Herbert Wurlitzer) developed a variant of the French clarinet in 1949, which he called a "Reform-Boehm"-clarinet. It is a clarinet with a French fingering system, whose sound is very close to that of the German clarinet through a different internal bore and another mouthpiece. This type of clarinet still finds lovers in some countries.

The clarinet was quickly accepted by the orchestras and its sound was taking shape and curdling with the texture of the other wind instruments in the orchestra. Mozart loved the sound of the clarinet which he considered to be the closest thing to the human voice, and he wrote numerous pieces for the instrument. Already in Beethoven's time (c. 1800-1820), the instrument played an essential role in any orchestra.

Similarly, the clarinet has been used in jazz since the first jazz groups and big bands.

Sound effects

To perform the following effects satisfactorily, it is advisable to use a very flexible, elastic reed with enough body.

Trino.

Trinos

The clarinet executes all the major and minor trines within its tesitura, both in strong matiz and piano. It has in its mechanism some keys and extensions that allow to perform without too much difficulty the trinos. Generally, the trims made with the fingers of both hands are the most complicated, because these are the least skilled fingers, and therefore they will require more hours of practice to run with skill. When studying the trinos, you must obtain a perfect timbrian and dynamic regularity. To do this there are specific exercises to master them. When studying the trims, special care must be placed in the position of the arms and wrists. The contact of the fingers with the keys should be light and relaxed to avoid generating tensions that hinder a smooth interpretation.

Continuous breathing.

As its name indicates, it allows the continuous flow of air and allows long-lasting passages without stopping to breathe. To do this we must inspire normally and make a sound; when we need to breathe again, without going to the end of the breath, we do, without stopping to blow, an air reserve inside the mouth, carrying the tongue back, placed in the shape of arc, as if we promote the gutural "g", and eventually swelling the cheeks. In this way, the tongue acts as a gate that presses the air while inspiring by the nose, carrying the tongue forward and tightening the cheeks again.

Toothbrush.

It is achieved by placing the teeth on the tongue gently and exerting light blows of these on the tongue. This effect is not spontaneous and is used in short notes, especially in contemporary music.

Echo sounds.

They are achieved by two instruments, one of which performs a strong nuance and the other answers between frames in piano matiz. This distance between the instruments is enough to attenuate the sound. It is also achieved through an instrument thanks to the contrast of strong nuances – piano.

Double sounds.

It consists of playing a note and chanting another mentally. It is achieved using a part of the breathed air to make the tongue vibrate and another part to make the vocal cords vibrate.

Multiphonic productions.

To achieve this effect, the base note must be of the acute record. We will sound a note in this record and relax the lips by decreasing the pressure until the lower notes appear.

Flutter-tonguing, Flatterzunge or Frullati.

It means language vibration. It is achieved by arching the language as if we promote the Spanish or Italian lyrics. It is also achieved by tilting the tongue to the upper lip and moving the tongue quickly between the upper lip and the palate veil.

Glissando.

Glissandos.

It gets up very little by little to move from one position to another. The glissandos may be ascending or descending, although they are easier to run the ascenders.

Rollender Ton or retuned sound.

This sound is achieved by strongly suppressing the base of the tongue, so the sound becomes intermittent.

Labial vibrato.

This vibration is done with the lips or embocadura. It is achieved through the movements exercised with the lips on the tongue. This vibrate is not used with expressive character, but to achieve some effects. During the execution you must bear in mind that it is a dead sound that is oscillating in the height of a quarter tone, and therefore any vibration movement can destroy this effect.

Sound smorzato.

It means damped sound. It consists of damping the volume of the sound with small movements of the embocadura on the tongue, as a lipstick.

Types of clarinets

Clarinete low, corno di bassetto; clarinets in tor, if bemol and la; sopranino clarinets in sun and my bemol, clarinet di bassetto in A (German model).

Contrabass and contra-alto clarinets (Boehm)

Tone room clasp.

There is a whole family of clarinets according to register: from sopraninos tuned in E flat, fa or la flat, to octodouble basses tuned in si flat. The most used are:

• Sopranino in my bemol (also called turkey and pitu montañes in Cantabria);
• soprano in do, in Yeah. bemol (the most used), and the;
• high or contralto (in my bemol);
• bass Yeah. bemol; and
• against bass Yeah. Bemol.

In addition, we have to add two types of clarinets widely used during musical classicism (which are precisely the ones used in most of Mozart's works):

• the clarinet di bassetto (a challenged the), and
• the corno di bassetto (defended in fa).

In the beginning, and due to the difficulty of the clarinet to interpret in tonalities with several alterations, due to its primitive state of evolution, the use of three clarinets was frequent: do, si flat and la, depending on the tonality of the work or movement. Even today they are common, mainly in the operatic repertoire and in contemporary music, although the Clarinet in C is not used today, since it is frequently used to use the clarinet in B flat, and the clarinet in A in certain orchestral works with keys beyond two sharps (D major, A major, E major, etc.).

Almost all of these instruments are transposers. The most plausible reason is that, after the evolution of the clarinet in the 19th and early 20th centuries, by acquiring the ability to play in all keys, the soprano clarinet in c (today in disuse) was too strident, due to its high content of high harmonics, for which reason the clarinet was preferred in B flat (the most used) and in A (with a much sweeter sound and darker than the clarinet in B flat). Once the soprano of the family was established, the other members established themselves in relation to the second.

Repertoire

Since the incorporation of the clarinet into the orchestra in the 18th century, many composers have dedicated large pages to this instrument, both as a concert soloist and as part of various chamber ensembles. Of these authors we must highlight Mozart, who left us among other works a magnificent concerto and a quintet, Claude Debussy, Carl Maria von Weber, Johannes Brahms, Ígor Stravinski or Luciano Berio.