Clarinet Family

The clarinet family of instruments family includes the well-known B♭ clarinet, the slightly less familiar E♭, A, and bass clarinets, and other clarinets as well. The standard B♭ and A clarinets are the best known, however, there are many other clarinet types in clarinet family, which are less common.

Clarinet Family Instruments

A very special link on the Clarinet Family sent to me and created by a very special person in Paris, enjoy and have fun, David

http://anticwindbooks.chez-alice.fr/clarinet/clarinet.html

Clarinet Family Instruments

Octave clarinets

Very rare. Pitched around an octave higher than the B♭ clarinet.
A♭ piccolo clarinet.

E♭ clarinet/E♭ sopranino clarinet Fairly common in the United States and western Europe; less common in eastern Europe.

D clarinet — Rare in the United States and western Europe. Required in Molter’s very early clarinet concertos.

Rendall lists the E♭ and D clarinets, along with obsolete instruments in G, F, and E, as sopranino clarinets.

Shackleton lists the E♭ and D clarinets, along with obsolete instruments in F, and E, as sopranino clarinets.

The E♭ and D clarinets are commonly called piccolo clarinets in eastern Europe and Russia.

C Clarinet

This instrument became practically obsolete in the orchestras of Europe and the United States in the early twentieth century. The inclusion of the C clarinet, however was not unusual in orchestral scores from the era of Haydn and Mozart right through to the early 20th century. Mahler certainly included them up until his fourth symphony. Much of the orchestral repertoire of Beethoven and Schubert requires the C clarinet. This being the case, the nineteenth century clarinetists were faced with the difficult task of maintaining and alternating between instruments in A, B♭ and C. Since this was not always necessary or desirable for a first rate clarinetist, who could transpose easily between instruments and may not have wished to change from a warm to a cold instrument, the tendency has been to reduce, with the result that the usage of the C clarinet has gradually declined from the standard classical orchestra.

Recently, however, the C clarinet is enjoying a resurgence, as there is now a renewed interest in playing older works on their authentic instruments. This applies to orchestral music and also to popular folk styles such as klezmer music. At the same time there has been an innovation in Britain to use a simplified cheaper version of the C clarinet as the principle wind instrument for young learners, a position until recently, enjoyed (or suffered) by the recorder.

The clarinet in C is sometimes called for in clarinet choirs, often as a substitute for the oboe.
B♭ clarinet The most common type of clarinet.

A clarinet Standard orchestral instrument used alongside the B♭ soprano.

G clarinet Also called a “Turkish clarinet”

Primarily used in certain ethnic music. This type of clarinet is rare.

Rendall lists the C, B♭, and A clarinets along with the obsolete instrument in B as sopranos, and the clarinette d’amour in A♭ and G and the clarinet in G as obsolete altos.

Shackleton lists the C, B♭, A, and G clarinets along with obsolete instruments in B and A♭ as sopranos, noting that the A♭ and G often occurred as clarinette d’amour in the mid-18th century.

Rice classifies G clarinets with flared bells as altos, with pear- or bulb-shaped bells as clarinets d’amour.

Basset clarinet, Essentially a soprano clarinet with a range extension to low C (written).

A basset clarinet — Most common type. Basset clarinets in C, B♭, and G also exist

Rendall includes no basset clarinets in his classifications. Shackleton has three in his collection: Numbers 5389 (B♭ and A set) and 5393 (in A). See Catalogue of the Sir Nicholas Shackleton Collection, Edinburgh University Collection.

Basset horn Alto-to-tenor range instrument with (usually) a smaller bore than the alto clarinet, and a range extended to low (written) C.

F basset horn — Most common type

Rendall lists basset horns in G (obsolete) and F as tenors.
Shackleton lists also basset horns in G and D from the 18th century.

Neither Rendall nor Shackleton lists A, E, or E♭ basset horns though these apparently existed in the eighteenth century.

Alto clarinet, Pitched a perfect fifth (or, rarely, a perfect fourth) lower than the B♭ soprano clarinet.

E♭ alto clarinet — Most common type. Range usually down to low E♭ (written).

Rendall lists the E♭ alto and F tenor clarinets as tenors (along with the basset horns).

Shackleton lists the F alto clarinet as obsolete.

Bass clarinet an octave below the B♭ clarinet often with an extended low range.

B♭ bass clarinet — The standard bass

A bass clarinet — Very rare today, more common around 1900.

C bass clarinet — Obsolete.

Rendall and Shackleton list C, B♭, and A; Rendall lists only C as obsolete, while Shackleton calls A “rare”. Rendall groups these in baritone and bass.

Contra-alto clarinet An octave below the alto clarinet

EE♭ contra-alto clarinet, also called EE♭ contra-bass clarinet.

Rendall lists “contrabasset-horns” in G, F, and E♭ (none marked obsolete), grouping these in baritone and bass.

Shackleton lists only E♭ contra-bass clarinet, grouping it in contrabass (pedal) clarinets.

Contra-bass clarinet An octave below the bass clarinet

BB♭ contra-bass clarinet.

Rendall lists also contra-bass clarinet in C as obsolete, and groups it and the BB♭ contra-bass in baritone and bass.

Shackleton lists only the BB♭ contra-bass, grouping it in contra-bass (pedal) clarinets.

Two larger types have been built on an experimental basis:
EEE♭ octocontra-alto An octave below the contra-alto clarinet. Only three have been built.

BBB♭ octocontra-bass An octave below the contra-bass clarinet. Only one was ever built.

Have fun with it…

Clarinet Family

Related articles across the web

• Clarinet Family Instruments

http://ClarinetFamily.com

Music and Best Practice of Karma

The 12 Laws of Karma

1. THE GREAT LAW
2. THE LAW OF CREATION
3. THE LAW OF HUMILITY
4. THE LAW OF GROWTH
5. THE LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY
6. THE LAW OF CONNECTION
7. THE LAW OF FOCUS
8. THE LAW OF GIVING AND HOSPITALITY
9. THE LAW OF HERE AND NOW
10. THE LAW OF CHANGE
11. THE LAW OF PATIENCE AND REWARD
12. THE LAW OF SIGNIFICANCE AND INSPIRATION

Music and Best Practice of Karma

The Twelve Laws of Karma

(An excerpt from ‘Flow Centre’ by David Jean-Baptiste)

1. The Great law
‘As you sow so shall you reap’. There is nowhere to hide. This law is often known as the law of cause and effect. Whatever you do will come around full circle, irrespective of what other people think of you or say. Go about your business and treat all men, women and things in the world with respect, and things will come around for you the right way.

2. The Law of Creation
We ourselves are in control of the various elements in our lives and the situations we find ourselves in. You are not separate from the universe, we are all connected as a tiny part of one great moving universal system. Creation of the world you live in is born of the mind, your thoughts, mental pictures with emotion supporting those pictures, and beliefs become your physical world.

3. The Law of Humility
Acceptance is the key to change and growth. What you refuse to accept will continue for you, until you have enough humility to accept the truth of your situation to yourself at a deep level. When you have enough humility to accept your current situation to those you love, cheer and desire good for you, this can be a powerful catalyst to rapid change.
 
When another person behaves in an inappropriate manner, we may need enough humility to take the higher ground.

4. The Law of Growth
‘Where ever you go you take yourself with you’. As human beings we live in the physical world of now, experience thought in the mental world, and expand awareness through the spiritual world. To grow we must change, as we are the only ones who can do it. A burning desire to grow may be all you need. Raise the vibration of thought, give from the heart, and watch your life change for the better.

5. The Law of Responsibility
Situations and events in life reflect how we are and how we behave. When something turns for the worse in our world, we have to take responsibility for it. Sometimes shit happens. We mirror our surroundings and our surroundings mirrors us; this is a universal truth.

6. The Law of Connection
Everything we do matters even if you think it is irrelevant, it is all connected. Take care of the small money and the big money will take care of itself.

It is of massive importance that you take action to start the journey to make those changes you desire to see happen in your life.

Step by step, each step you make brings you a little closer. Celebrate each milestone you reach and enjoy the moment. Learning and growth acquired along the way is even more valuable than reaching the destination. Every particle and wave in the physical, mental and spiritual realms is connected as a form of energy.

7. The Law of Focus
Power comes through focusing the mind completely on something. Think about the power a pointed arrow has to penetrate a hard surface. This is the power of meditation. Meditation, ‘to concentrate on something for an extended period of time’.

8. The Law of Giving and Hospitality

‘To know and not to do is the same as not to know’.

There is another saying that says, ‘give and you shall receive’.

Giving ten percent of what you earn to a charity or organization you believe in is known as tithe. The word tithe can be looked upon as ‘tie thee’. Ten percent of your talent in the real world becomes a seed to tie you to your universal presence; so that the next cycle of the decimal system can grow. It is the zero that matters. You tie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, then you tie thee to the presence. Tie thee makes a tie, a link to the universe and your source of supply. By giving a tenth you are planting a seed that makes your supply grow into the next cycle.

9. The Law of Here and Now

‘The point of power is in the present’.

Looking either backward or forward must only be used as a resource to build upon our present situation.

10. The Law of Change
History repeats itself until we get leverage and interrupt the pattern of behavior that repeats. The ego is a powerful thing which entire existence depends on keeping you where you are. Gradually loosen the grip the ego has over you by practicing external awareness, through the practice of meditation of all descriptions, practicing no-mind and regular visualizing.
 
Nerve cells that fire together wire together, a bad habit may give a person pleasure as a secondary gain. All neurological patterns are designed to move you from pain to pleasure, both positive and negative ones. Interrupt the negative pattern. Smoking cigarettes may give a person relaxation, get leverage and learn to relax without the cigarette. Being depressed may get someone attention from other people, scramble this pattern and create a new alternative by getting attention when feeling awesome. ‘You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it’. Nerve cells that don’t fire together don’t wire together, you have the power to change the limited pattern of behavior. Try doing something you don’t expect, the more off the wall it is the more effective it will be.

Scramble the sensations we link to our stupid patterns of behavior beyond recognition, and reinforce with new and better ones. Your brain cannot tell the difference between something intensely imagined or what is experienced in reality because the same neural nets fire for both.
 
The law of reinforcement, any pattern of emotion or behavior that is continually reinforced will become an automatic response. Creating new choices of behavior or response without reinforcement won’t last. Continually reinforce attitude behind the shifts you desire to make, and the changes will appear.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward
Anything worthwhile requires work to begin with. True satisfaction comes through working towards something we value, and enjoying the process; knowing that the rewards will eventually appear.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration
People get back from something what has been put into it. The true value of something is a direct result of the energy expended.

Albert Einstein’s groundbreaking equation E=MC2 is interesting to look at in view of what it means in daily life. E as Energy, M as Mass and C as the Constant of Proportionality. Mass energy is proportional to mass. Twice as much mass means twice as much energy, therefore no mass means no mass energy. C2 does the job of converting from the unit of mass to the unit in which energy is expressed. In a similar way C2 is a price. It is energy per unit mass.
 
Let’s change it to C=SP2 C being the cost of shares, is equal to the number of shares S multiplied by the price per share P.

• Turn on the passion through the love of music.

• Get a new perspective on personal relationships.

• Reach your critical net worth with Intention in Motion Milestones.

• Enjoy a range of solutions for burnout and stress.

• Life changing opportunities for the newly divorced.

• Save time and money and avoid stress with accelerated learning techniques.

• Tune into the needs of your ideal client with Avatar Alchemy.

• Benefit from talent fulfillment strategies.

• Achieve your burning intention with passion, warmth, focus and adventure.

(click on images to visit site)

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Music and Best Practice of Karma

Clarinet Family Instruments

A very special link on the Clarinet Family sent to me and created by a very special person in Paris, enjoy and have fun, David

http://anticwindbooks.chez-alice.fr/clarinet/clarinet.html

Clarinet Family Instruments

The Basset-horn and Bass Clarinet

David Introduces the Basset-horn and the Bass Clarinet

The Basset-horn is a sweet member of the clarinet family. The basset horn is typically pitched in F less sometimes in G. 

Sabre Bass Clarinet Symposium with Matthias Muller

Eric Dolphy, a tour de force of Bass Clarinet innovation 

 http://ClarinetFamily.com

Sample from the book:Music and Memory (www.myspace.com/musicandmemory)

(David’s Musical Memory Exercise)

Think of the last time you played, maybe with friends, in a concert situation or in your bedroom or a practice room; choose a pleasant memory. Were you sitting or standing? Were there other people with you, other musicians and/or an audience? What clothes were you wearing? See the colours of the cloth, textures and feel of the material on your skin. What was the air like? Were you outside or in? Was it light or dimmer? Is the picture still or moving? Become more aware of movement. Feel the instrument in your hand, the pressure keys under your fingers, how were you breathing as you played or sang. Were you hot, warm or comfortable at room temperature? What did you play and for how long? Were you playing fast or slow, loud or soft? How many sounds were there? What was your tone like? As your memory becomes richer in detail, in your inner ear what direction does the sound come from? Feel your connection with the instrument grow. Feel the music you played in your body, it’s rhythm, harmonies and melodies… and make them louder in your mind’s ear. Enjoy the weight of your feet on the ground. Where in your body did you feel the music, allow this feeling to grow? Become aware of the notes as you played, the higher ones and lower ones. As this memory becomes clearer and more detailed, are you in the mental picture (associated)? Or are you looking at yourself in the picture (disassociated)? Is your picture focused or unfocused? Find the zoom lens of your camera and zoom in. Then step into the picture, make it brighter and panoramic (see all around you)…Now double the feeling and the passion… and then again. Do this as often as you like until you are totally there and more…

Have fun with it…

David Jean-Baptiste

Music and Memory

Just want to share with you a few thoughts about the clarinet and why I believe it a good choice of instrument to learn.

The clarinet is one of those instruments when a person reaches an acceptable level of ability it brings a sense of as the French say, a certain Je ne sais quoi…When a person is able to express themselves on a musical instrument, there is a corresponding emotion associated with it. Loud amplified electric guitar playing can make the player feel indestructible. The saxophone is generally louder, conical and more often seen and heard than its brother the clarinet, and people generally feel a connection to popularity and sense of release when playing it. The trumpet is regal, perfect to proclaim the fanfare of kings. In jazz the trumpet is looked upon as a leaders instrument. Think of Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis to name a few.

The clarinet on the other hand has a little something intangible to it. A combination of clarity in tone, finesse in sound delivery and a tad above the rest, in the best possible meaning of course. Also in classical music there is a healthy repertoire of music written for the instrument.

Maybe it’s the fine keywork in relation to wood, lathed into a cylindrical bore. Yes there are metal clarinets and plastic clarinets, even clarinets made from glass. There is something about the wood, rosewoods, grenadilla, African blackwoods, cocobollo, the distinctive shape of the instrument and the focused sound, that in my opinion sets it above the rest.

So far I have been referring to the more often seen B flat clarinet in this article to learn to play clarinet online. When we bring other members of the clarinet family into the equation, the appeal of the clarinet sky rockets exponentially. The bass clarinet is totally sublime, the contra-bass clarinet can be dark and dirty, perfect for adding weight and authority to bass lines in any music genre. The basset-horn can be so sweet sounding at the top of the instrument, with a singing quality to it. Then sounds like the younger brother of the bass clarinet in its lower register. It’s no surprise that Mozart fell in love with the basset-horn.

So there you have it, learn to play the clarinet…The instrument is perfectly poised to grace ever evolving musical soundscapes with depth and meaning. It is on, and you are about to be part of it.

Best Regards David

David Jean-Baptiste

http://clarinetfamily.com

© The Wellness Clarinet Ltd 2016

David Jean-Baptiste In Conversation with Anton Weinberg

Anton Weinberg a student of Hans Keller has held international professorships of music at Indiana University, professor of clarinet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London’s Barbican Centre, a professor in the new Gulbenkian and Leverhulme Trusts, and a member of the faculty for the government-sponsored National Youth Orchestra of Spain.

He has been a professor at Darlington International Summer School under the directorship of Peter Maxwell Davies, a faculty member at the National Centre of Orchestral Studies in New York, and a visiting professor at the Conservatories of Peking and Shanghai, where he gave lectures as part of the first Anglo/American cultural visits. He is also an authority on the sociology and psychology of music.

Anton’s book ‘Unfinished Sentences,’ with a preface from Lord Menuhin, stands as a testament to mastery.

‘Brilliant concepts, I recommend Anton Weinberg as a marvellous musician, interpreter, teacher and thinker’. (Lord Menuhin)

‘The most versatile of us all, he can be regarded as an expert in so many different fields. In addition he is unusually articulate revealing matters which many of us can only hope to demonstrate’. (Jack Brymer O.B.E)

I met with Anton one early autumnal evening in Paddington station, over a coffee to discover what light this man may be able to shine on mindset in relation to performing. Naturally I have my own practical techniques on this. Other than the obvious one of visualizing a perfect performance, I approached the meeting with one main question…What can a performer do mentally in preparation for a performance, to increase the likelihood of giving the audience a wow! Moment…a moment of magic?

A moment of magic can best be described as a point in time where thoughts disappear and the viewer is suddenly in another world.

Performing to an audience as I see it is a multi-directional wave of consciousness connecting everyone in the room. A connection comprised of sounds, bodily sensations and impressions. The performer creates a moment of magic when in such a state of complete flow that they draw the audience into a moment of total awareness.

Anton agreed, adding that a performance mindset that creates magic is totally instinctive, and the essence of art is interaction. He talked of Andres Segovia and how he would take a passage or phrase of music and interpret it in thirty different ways in preparation. This was certainly an ah ha moment and struck a chord with me.

He spoke of cellist Rostropovich and Sting how they can summon these great musical moments with a jazz like improvisatory flair. How Katya Labeque plays chords so improvisatory, formal and simple with an unexpected quality; as Beethoven and Bach used to improvise at parties.

Anton told stories from the lives of actors and comedians Sid James, Morecombe and Wise, and Tony Hancock; stories of situations that created moments of magic in comical genius. He talked of Pushkin http://rosiamar.nm.ru/ruslan.html and that audiences in all forms of art seek these moments of magic be it literature, dance or visual art.

Indeed I thought, these special moments have the power to enlighten people and change the course of their lives.

“The instrument is just a vehicle, sense the audience, feel the corporate character of the audience,” he said. “It is something you can’t really prepare for, in fact too much preparation can be counter productive. When Leopold Stokowski the British born conducter conducted, if there was a fidgety audience he would play quieter and slower. Dynamics in the music have nothing to do with volume and everything to do with character. A silent whisper can be infinitely more potent than an outburst. Maintain a positive mindset question everything and believe nothing.”

In my mind it had been a very satisfactory meeting, as Anton had totally over delivered on my question. Leaving me plenty to think about and had created ample growing room for me to improve on my own performance.

We both agreed that performance is where the money is, as these days what is expected of the top players has become homogeneous in terms of sound, technique and musicality. Now unlike the past it is becoming harder to tell one top player from the other on recordings.

“Everyone is a genius but if you end up measuring a fishes ability by his ability to climb trees he’ll end up thinking he’s stupid” (Einstein)

So to summarise, to harness the power to create moments of magic do everything to play with increasing awareness and never over prepare. Ask yourself often, how can I create a moment in the now? Knowing in your ability to do this. The more we think of our own individual abilities to create magical moments, the stronger these thoughts will become and the more often they will happen.

Have Fun David

www.clarinetfamily.com

© The Wellness Clarinet Ltd 2016

May the classical player play Weber’s concertos differently from the last time performed. Some may say this is a challenge, but when looked upon in the bright light of reality it is not really. Great clarinetists do this consistently and naturally making hairs stand on end each time at that. We may embrace the same intention of awareness when playing the music of Brahms and Mozart, Poulenc and Milhaud. Playing the notes and then forgetting them. Meaning our spirit and true nature takes command over our controlling and suppressive musical tendencies. So we can flow and therefore speak through the notes of the music like a new wave of consciousness. So we can feed our audience something new and inspirational; even though the presentation of notes, their order, melodies rhythms and harmonies of the music, may have remained the same as they have always been for the past 300 years.

A key goal in jazz music is to be open to the moment musically and to respond accordingly, rather like a medium of sort; a musical response to the musical inclinations of the other performing musicians on stage. Also to the audience; aiming to create a new melody or feeling. I know a Danish pianist composer and improviser who can improvise complete works of music. Every time he plays it will be different to anything you heard previously. He simply has an open channel to universal energy flow. So therefore if we can do this It must be possible for a clarinetist to tap into subtle energies in a room of people so to create a euphoric feeling in them when playing the music of Bach for example.

Once at a small Improvised music event in London, two experimental improvisers toyed on stage. They toyed around looking for new ways to turn their performance, and to take the audience by surprise. At one point the bassist of the duet rolled up a carpet he was using to keep his bass in place while playing and began hitting his bass with the carpet, producing some weird but different acoustic effect. “What is that man doing to that lovely instrument?” was the general feeling in the room. Through the ensuing shock that followed and general apprehensive atmosphere in the audience created by this action, someone shouted out “Rubbish!” a brief pause followed, then…”rubbish rubbish, rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.” The very next turn in the music saw the musicians using the word rubbish spontaneously in their improvisation. Be clear on this, not to say improvisation is rubbish, because it is an art form as valid as any.

The new iPhone 7 comes out this soon, if you want to be on the edge of it all; include a new ringtone from the latest iPhone in your current recording. This is something that could never have happened in the past.

So in summary modern clarinet performance has everything to do with present moment awareness and responsiveness to what’s happening in the moment. These might be thought processes, sensations, dreamscapes as well as physical occurrences. Both jazz and classical music it is the same processes at play; tune up and tune in.

Have Fun, David

www.clarinetfamily.com

© The Wellness Clarinet Ltd 2016

James Carter is an exceptional saxophonist and all round woodwinds player. Here is a video where he shares some of the devices he uses on his instruments…

http://jamescarterlive.com/press/new-video-james-carter-clinic-in-moscow

Photo by: Jimmy Katz