The Clarinet

The clarinet is an interesting piece of musical equipment that is part of the woodwind section. The sound is a mellow mid tone sound, although the clarinet generally plays mid to low notes it can also range to higher notes. This instrument is known for having the largest note range within the woodwind section. The design of the clarinet is generally in 5 main pieces. This includes the mouth piece, the barrel, two main body parts that include the holes and brackets used to create different musical notes, and then at the bottom a flared bell where the music is projected. On the mouthpiece there is a silver bracket called a ligature in which you place a small wooden reed. This reed is placed in a certain way on your bottom lip and vibrates creating the sound. Any chipping or breakage to the tip of the reed can change the way the music sounds or make it to where it will not play a note at all. The clarinet has been dated back to the early 1600s, built by a German company. Although it was built in this time, it took a little over 100 years to perfect the design and sound. The clarinet made its first orchestral debut in 1716. Over the years of design modifications have been made to improve the simplicity of the clarinet. There are now 24 keys on a clarinet. The design of the keys were altered over the years to create an easier fingering
Sometimes there will only need to be a few b flat clarinets, and other times a few of each type of clarinet is needed. In even some cases you may need 25 or more clarinets. It all depends on the writer of the music and how dominate he or she wants the focus on the woodwind section containing the clarinet. Another factor contributing, is the amount of space on the stage in which the orchestra is performing. If there isn't a lot of room then the organization will range from left to right, most important to least