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Professional clarinets are made from African hardwood, often grenadilla or (rarely) Honduran rosewood (student instruments are usually composite or plastic resin, commonly "resonite," an intrusive resin). Some parts, such as the mouthpiece are sometimes made of ebonite. The instrument uses a single reed which is held in the mouth by the player. Vibrating the reed produces the instrument's sound.
The body of the instrument is mostly of uniform diameter until the bell is reached. The body is equipped with a complicated set of keys and holes (see Boehm System)(NB: It doesn't use the true Boehm System, but a system designed by Klose based on the Boehm system) which allow the full musical scale to be produced. The clarinet has a written range spanning from low E on the third space of the bass clef staff (concert D on the Bb clarinet,concert C# on the A clarinet ) to the high C, on the space above the fifth ledger line above the treble clef staff (concert B flat on the Bb clarinet, concert A on the A clarinet). It also has an extended range up to the G above high C. This top range is not used very commonly, and many professional players have difficulty getting these notes.
Clarinets are usually pitched in the key of B flat or A, although there are other harmony clarinets in the keys of C, Eb, D, and Ab. There are also instruments known as basset horns in F, bass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like other clarinets, it is usually pitched in B flat (meaning it is a transposing instrument where a written C sounds as B flat), and plays notes an octave below the "normal" soprano claris pitched one octave below the Bb soprano, Alto clarinets in Eb, Contra-alto clarinetThe contra-alto clarinet is a large, low-sounding musical instrument of the clarinet family. The contra-alto clarinet is pitched in the key of E-flat and is sometimes called the E-flat contrabass clarinet. It is the second-largest member of the clarinet fs in EEb (one octave below the alto clarinet), and the huge contrabass clarinet in BBb (one octave below the bass clarinet). Extremely rare octocontrabass (which can play the B flat below the standard piano's lowest note) and octocontralto clarinets have been made.
The fixed reed and the uniform diameter give the instrument a configuration of a stopped pipe where use of the register key produces a one twelfth pitch interval.
Clarinets are part of the normal orchestraAn orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra''. Full size orchestras may sometimes be called "symphony orchestras" or "philharmonic orchestras"; these prefixes do not indicate any dl make up. They are common in jazzFor other article subjects named Jazz see jazz (disambiguation). Jazz is a musical art form characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. It has been called the first original art form to develop in th and wind bands.
(Read this left-to-right along the illustration.)
The reed is attached to the mouthpiece by the ligature. The position of the mouthpiece assembly in the player's mouth is called the embouchure (also, and more importantly, the formation of the mouth around the mouthpiece and reed).
Next is the short barrel, this part of the instrument may be extended in order to fine-tune the clarinet. As the pitch of the clarinet is fairly temperature sensitive some instruments have interchangeable barrels.
The main body of the clarinet is divided into the clarion (upper) joint whose holes and most keys are operated by the left hand, and the chalumeau (lower) joint with holes and most keys operated by the right hand. The left thumb operates both a sound hole and the register key. The cluster of keys in the middle of the illustration are known as the trill keys and are operated by the right hand. The entire weight of the instrument is supported by the right thumb behind the lower joint on what is misleadingly called the thumb-rest.
Finally, the flared end is known as the bell.
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