Bass Clarinet Facts: Curious Details Revealed On This Wind Instrument

Which is that long instrument in which the musician blows through to produce a soft, warm and mild sound?

A bass clarinet, that looks a bit like the saxophone! A bass clarinet is tuned in an octave lower than that of a regular clarinet.

A bass clarinet belongs to the clarinet family of instruments. It is one of the single-reed woodwind instruments. It is longer than a Bb clarinet or soprano clarinet with a length of 40 in (101.6 cm).

Bass clarinets are usually made up of African blackwood and have a cylindrical bore. They are very heavy to carry and play in concerts for long hours.

Special carrying equipment is usually employed and fixed around the shoulders and chest. Bass clarinets are a prominent feature of the orchestras and wind instrument ensembles and also occasionally perform at jazz and solo concerts. Read along to know more about bass clarinets!

We will be learning some interesting facts about the origin and history of the bass clarinet along with its characteristics, range, and purpose!

Bass Clarinet: Origin And History

The history of the bass clarinet dates back to the 18th century. Gradually, a lot of changes have taken place during the 1700s and 1800s to arrive at the design of the current clarinet. Let us learn about the history and origin of the bass clarinet!

Many instruments resembled a bass clarinet in the early years. One of the first instruments that looked like a clarinet was the dulcian-shaped instrument preserved at the Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg.

It was a big hollow of cylindrical shape without a mouthpiece and the way it was played suggested that it was in the range of chalumeau register. In the 18th century, the chalumeau had about one to six keys.

In 1770, an instrument by the Mayrhofer of Passau invented the basset horns. In 1772, an instrument called Basse-tube was invented in Paris by a man named G. Lott. This was cited as one of the earliest versions of the bass clarinet.

It was later known to be a form of the basset horn. In 1793, Heinrich Genser invented the Klarinetten-bass shared similarities with bassoon, another woodwind instrument that was folded with an extended range. It was used in military bands in place of bassoons.

In 1807, Desfontanelles of Lisieux built a bass clarinet that closely resembled the saxophone. It had 13 keys more than the soprano clarinets of that time.

In 1832, Issac Dacosta and Augusta Buffet made an instrument that stood straight without an extended range. In the year 1838, a Belgian manufacturer by the name of Adolphe Sax designed straight-bodied bass clarinet with large holes to produce tunes and a second hole to register the tunes.

This design was the most accepted design which laid the foundation for all clarinet designs.

Most clarinets come with a spit valve to collect the moisture and pressing the spit valve would allow the moisture to empty. The modern bass clarinets come with a straight body and a curved metal neck.

It is very heavy and is supported with a neck strap or adjustable peg attached to its body. The modern clarinets were designed between the 1800 and 1850s.

They had bores and mouthpieces which enhanced the tonal quality. The keyworks of the instrument mounted on pillars and the ring keys were introduced by the flute maker Theobald Boehm. Auguste Buffet added the needle springs in the 1840s.

The Albert system is a modernization of the 13 key clarinet system and it is mostly used in German-speaking countries. It had a bore, mouthpiece, and reed which gave a greater tonal quality. The keywork of these clarinets is complex in nature.

Characteristics Of A Bass Clarinet

A bass clarinet is one of the woodwind instruments and belongs to the clarinet family. Let us learn more about its characteristic features!

The clarinet is of the shape of a cylindrical bore due to which there is a distinct timbre whose characters vary between three registers namely the chalumeau register, clarino register, and altissimo register. The tonal quality is based on the musician, the style of clarinet, reed, and humidity.

African hardwood and Honduran rosewood are the types of wood used to make these woodwind instruments. Some guitar manufacturers make clarinets with the composite material of plastic resin.

The mouthpiece is made up of ebonite, a rigid rubber-like substance. The material that is used to make a single reed is the cane of Arundo donax. Today, synthetic materials are also used.

The reed is attached to the mouthpiece by a ligature and this is held in the player's mouth. The reed is under the mouthpiece pressing under the bottom lips. Metal soprano clarinet was in vogue in the 18th century and was popular until the 20th century.

The use of metal is for contra-alto and contrabass clarinets. A soprano clarinet has several tone holes. Out of these, there are seven tone holes that are covered with fingertips, and the rest are opened and closed with a typeset of keys.

The hollow bore inside the instrument is cylindrical in shape. The diameter of the instrument is the same as the length of the tube. The diameter of the bore decides the pitch and note.

The clarinet has an hourglass figure; placed between the upper and the lower joint is the thinnest part of the clarinet. This hourglass shape misses the eye. This shape of the clarinet allows for the sound to resonate.

The clarinetist shuffles between keypads by using either register keys or speaker keys. The clarinet has keys or holes to play 19 notes. The highest notes of the clarinet have piercing quality.

Due to the uniform diameter of the clarinet, when the register is pressed, it produces a note a 12th higher matching the third harmonic. The fifth and the seventh harmonics are also played by skilled clarinetists to match the sixth and fourth higher respectively.

The bass clarinet like the soprano clarinet is usually pitched at Bb which means it is a transposing instrument in which a written c sounds as Bb. It plays notes one octave lower than the Bb clarinet.

Orchestral music for bass clarinet is written using one of the four systems namely conventional treble clef in Bb (French notation), bass clef in Bb (German notation), Bass clef in Bb (Russian notation), and Bass clef in Bb (Italian notation).

The conventional treble clef in Bb is the most common and sounds an octave and a major second lower than written and the fingerings are the same as that of soprano clarinet.

In German notation, it sounds a major tone lower than the written. The Russian notation mixes the German and French notation. It is played major second lower than written. The Italian notation is written major nine higher than the sounding pitch. A professional bass clarinet has around 23 keys.

Range Of A Bass Clarinet

The range of a bass clarinet varies largely and it is different for different clarinets. Let us have a look at the range of various bass clarinets.

The keywork on the particular instrument decides the range of the instrument. All soprano and piccolo clarinets enable them to play E below middle C as the lowest note. Alto clarinet and bass clarinets have an extra key to allow a low Eb. Contrabass clarinets and contra-alto clarinet may have keys extending as low as Eb, D, or C.

B-flat clarinet is pitched in the key of B-flat. When playing a C, it sounds like a B-flat. The range of the clarinet can be divided into three types.

The lowest notes are known as the chalumeau register, the middle notes are clarion, and the octave higher is altissimo. The bass clarinets play sounds of deepest notes. In a bass clarinet solo, the lowest and the deepest tones have been used.

The sound produced by this wind instrument is different. The Eb bass clarinet has one extra key and the C bass clarinet has five additional keys. This also increases the range of the clarinet.

Purpose Of A Bass Clarinet

The bass clarinet is used in different settings like an orchestra, rock band, and contemporary music. Let us have a look at the different scenarios where it is used.

Clarinets are a part of the orchestra in classical music concerts. It includes two clarinetists, one playing the A clarinet and the other playing the Bb clarinet. Later on, during the 19th century, a bass clarinetist was included.

The clarinet is widely used as a solo instrument. Solo clarinetist usually specializes in new music. In October 2005, the first bass clarinet convention was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

In wind instrument concerts, the clarinet occupies the same central position in the instrumentation as the string instruments do. The bass clarinet was very rarely used in Jazz concerts. In 1924, Wilbur Sweatman recorded bass clarinet for jazz. Benny Goodman recorded the instrument many times earlier in his career.

Clarinet choirs consist of a huge number of clarinetists playing together. The homogenous tunes of all the clarinets resemble the human choir. Clarinet quartet makes use of Bb sopranos and one Bb bass. Choirs and quartets usually play classical music and popular music. Clarinets are used in Klezmer music which requires a distinct style of playing.