Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument from the woodwind family, using a single reed and with an approximately cylindrical bore. Introduced in the late 18th century as a modified chalumeau, it rapidly developed into one of the most popular instruments in classical and other music. The name means "little clarino", the clarino being a high-pitched trumpet whose sound the early clarinet resembled.

Although the name is usually used to refer to the soprano clarinet, it in fact encompasses a large family of instruments, ranging from the huge contrabass clarinets to the tiny "picksüßes hölzl", the piccolo clarinets in G and A♭.

References

• Rehfeldt, P. (1994). New Directions for Clarinet, revised edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03379-5.