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

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• Clarinet Family Instruments

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Bass Saxophone is larger than its more common brother baritone saxophone. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, when Adolphe Sax presented a bass saxophone in C at an exhibition in Brussels in 1841. The modern bass saxophone is a transposing instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the tenor saxophone. The bass saxophone is not commonly used in any music, but it is heard on some 1920s jazz recordings; in jazz; and in the saxophone choir or “large ensemble” tradition.

The instrument was first used in 1844, both by Hector Berlioz in an arrangement of his Chant sacred, and by Georges Kastner in his opera Le Dernier Roi de Judas. In the 1950s and 1960s it enjoyed a brief vogue in orchestrations for musical theater: Leonard Bernstein’s original score for West Side Story includes bass saxophone, as does Meredith Willson’s Music Man and Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend. American composer Warren Benson has championed the use of the instrument in his music for concert band.

Although bass saxophones in C were made for orchestral use, modern instruments are in B♭. This puts them a perfect fourth lower than the baritone sax and an octave lower than the tenor sax. The range is similar to that of the B♭contra bass clarinet. Music is written in treble clef, just as for the other saxophones, with the pitches sounding two octaves and a major second lower than written. As with most other members of the saxophone family, the lowest written note is the B♭ below the staff sounding as a concert A♭ in the first octave (~ 51.9 Hz).

Until the start of the 21st century, the largest existing member of the saxophone family was the rare contra bass, pitched in E♭, a perfect fifth lower than the bass. Inventor Adolphe Sax had a patent for a subcontrabass saxophone (or bourdon saxophone), but apparently never built a fully functioning instrument. In 1999, German wind instrument maker Benedikt Eppelsheim introduced the subcontrabass tubax, a modified saxophone pitched in B♭ an octave below the bass saxophone.

In Jazz Music

The bass saxophone enjoyed some measure of popularity in jazz combos and dance bands between World War I and World War II, primarily providing bass lines, although players occasionally took melodic solos. Notable players of this era include Billy Fowler, Coleman Hawkins, Otto Hardwicke (of the Duke Ellington orchestra), Adrian Rollini, Min Leibrook, Spencer Clark, and Vern Brown of the Six Brown Brothers. The bass sax become more scarce in standard jazz band instrumentation during the mid to late 1920s. Sheet music of the period shows many bands photographed with a bass sax in their collection of instruments. It was sometimes played by the tuba or string bass player rather a member of the sax section.

American bandleader Boyd Raeburn (1913–1966), who led an avant-garde big band in the 1940s, was a sometime bass saxophonist. In Britain, the leader of the Oscar Rabin Band also played it. Harry Gold, a member of Rabin’s band, played bass saxophone in his own band, Pieces of Eight. American bandleader Stan Kenton’s “Mellophonium Orchestra” (1960–1963) featured fourteen brass players and used a saxophone section of one alto, two tenors, baritone, and bass on Johnny Richards’ compositions. Joel Kaye played baritone and bass saxophone in that band. The ensemble recorded several successful albums, winning two Grammys. The Lawrence Welk Band featured Bill Page soloing on bass sax on several broadcasts during the 1960s. Shorty Rogers’s Swingin’ Nutcracker (recorded for RCA Victor in 1960) featured a bass saxophone on four of the movements (played by Bill Hood).

The 1970s traditional jazz band The Memphis Nighthawks built their sound around diminutive bass saxophonist Dave Feinman. Some revivalist bass saxophonists performing today in the 1920s-1930s style are Vince Giordano and Bert Brandsma, leader of the Dixieland Crackerjacks. Jazz players using the instrument in a more contemporary style include Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Peter Brötzmann, J. D. Parran, Hamiet Bluiett, James Carter, Stefan Zeniuk, Michael Marcus (musician) Vinny Golia, Joseph Jarman, Brian Landrus, Urs Leimgruber, Tony Bevan, and Scott Robinson, although none of these uses it as his primary instrument.

The Bass Saxophone