1. The Clarinet!
The instrument I will be talking about is the wonderful clarinet. This amazing
instrument was invented in the 1690’s.The Clarinet was created by Johann
Christoph Denner. The clarinet was created in Nurnberg Germany. To describe the
clarinet it is a fairly long tube looking cylinder that has many keys and uses only one
single reed. The reed is connected to the mouthpiece using the ligature for the
clarinetist’s mouth. These three parts of the mouthpiece together is called an
embouchure. Then, the next part of the clarinet is called the short barrel, which is
used to make high pitch sounds sound smooth (perfect). The next piece of the
instrument is the main body. This is divided into two parts, which connect to each
other, and the other two parts (top and bottom). This is where the keys are placed.
The last part of the clarinet is the open end, which is known as the bell. The bell does
not make the sound of the instrument louder it is used to make the quality of the
tone sound better. This is a little about the clarinet!
The clarinet has a very different timbre. This means that the sound that the
clarinet makes is very different from its family of woodwinds or other instruments
from other families. For example you can easily tell the difference of a clarinet from
a trumpet because they make two different sounds! In the woodwind family the
clarinets has the greatest variety of pitches. It can from a really high note to a really
low note! These are some of the many characteristics about the clarinet. The
clarinets family goes into the woodwind family along with flutes, oboes, and
recorders etc. In a chamber orchestra you only maybe need one but in a symphony
orchestra you need two or three.
A song that uses the clarinet as a solo would be Clarinetitis by Benny
Goodman. He was a jazz/swing clarinetist who was famous for this song and many
others too. The song has the same name as the instrument (CLARINETitis) and he
was a clarinetist so that is why the song was written for the clarinet. Mr. Benny was
playing the clarinet from his early childhood, which made him a professional
clarinetist today. This is some information about the clarinet but there is much more
to learn! This is the instrument I would like to play!