 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-11-20 20:21
Basic general definition:
Notes starting on B in the middle of the staff through the C that is two ledger lines above staff
Technical definition:
Notes that are played as the 3rd mathematical harmonic of the fundamental tone.
Note that the clarinet jumps registers by the odd harmonics only not the evens. This is why our jumps are not octave jumps when we add the register key (often referred to as the octave key even though not technically accurate).
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Author: Bill
Date: 2000-11-20 20:38
In addition to Dee's explanation, Pino's book says this register gets its name based on listeners thinking that from a distance the earliest clarinets sounded like clarion trumpets.
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Author: Ken Rasmussen
Date: 2000-11-21 02:58
I have heard that there was an early single reed instrument called the "Clarion", and a lower pitched instrument called the Chamulo (spelling is wrong--can't remember correct spelling at present). The modern clarinet is supposed to be an amalgamation of the two instruments. The low register is named after the low instrument, and the high is named after the higher pitched instrument. However, I've never heard it said that there was a third instrument called the Altissimo--probably because no one would have wanted to play it if there had been.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-11-21 10:36
Ken Rasmussen wrote:
>
> I have heard that there was an early single reed
> instrument called the "Clarion", and a lower pitched instrument
> called the Chamulo (spelling is wrong--can't remember correct
> spelling at present). The modern clarinet is supposed to be an
> amalgamation of the two instruments. The low register is named
> after the low instrument, and the high is named after the
> higher pitched instrument. However, I've never heard it said
> that there was a third instrument called the
> Altissimo--probably because no one would have wanted to play it
> if there had been.
Check out the various books on the history of the clarinet such as F. Geoffrey Rendal's "The Clarinet." These were not different instruments that became amalgamated but were instead the same instrument played in its different ranges. The chalumeau is the ancestral version. When the clarion register became accessible, our term clarinet developed from a diminutive of "clarino" meaning little horn as the sound was thought to resemble a horn in this register. Of course if you go further back, the term clarino does come from a word that in turn means clear.
Catalogs and scores from the transition period show that terminology was not yet settled. A score might be marked as being for chalumeau but a check of the range indicates that both registers were required and thus they really meant an early clarinet.
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The Clarinet Pages
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