Studio Presentation
Notes
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The Development of
the 2-key Clarinet Studio Presentation
Spring 2003 Elizabeth Owens Chalumeau -single reed instrument -clarinet’s first real ancestor -believed to be developed in medieval times from pipes played by shepherds -the word “chalumeau” is of French origin and is a general word for any small, reed- blown pipe -it appeared in the late 1600s and had a range of about 1 ˝ octaves Johann Christoph Denner -well-known flute maker in -he spent his childhood learning to tune instruments-his
father’s profession-and later developed a reputation for himself as one of
the best woodwind instrument makers in -it was then that he decided that he wanted to improve upon the French chalumeau -this was the “birth of the clarinet” -in the early 1700s, he and his son Jacob added a register key to the chalumeau -this key was played with the thumb of the left hand and was added to expand the clarinet’s range -by the time Denner died in 1707, he and his sons had developed 25 types of 2-keyed clarinets -after Denner’s death in 1707, his sons continued to develop the clarinet -some believe that it was actually Denner’s son who developed the bell after Denner’s death Appearance and Characteristics of the 2-key clarinet -early clarinets resembled a treble recorder with finger keys and a “speaker”, or register, key -broad mouthpiece -body with 6 holes in front and one in back -a small foot joint with 2 holes side by side -2 metal keys -one was above the first finger of the left hand and the other was above the thumb of the left hand -the front key produced an A and the player could produce a Bb by adding the thumb key; a B was played using both keys together -the first clarinets had the two keys mounted on the mouthpiece joint, and the mouthpiece joint was almost as long as the body joint -body made of European Boxwood, ivory, plum, ebony, or pear -keys were made of brass or silver, and the springs were made of brass -the tone hole covers were usually square, although some were round -a piece of leather was always used as a sealing pad -the register key was lined with a metal tube to prevent it from being blocked with moisture -lowest note was F, and it was possible to play up to open G chromatically, then the range skipped up to third space C -later a third key was added to correct this problem -the clarinet register notes were much more in tune than the chalumeau register notes -early 2-keyed clarinets had a bigger bore, mouthpiece, and tone holes than modern clarinets -in the mid 18th century, the bores were made smaller to produce a better upper register, the mouthpiece was also narrowed and the tone holes made smaller -most 2-keyed clarinets were usually in C or D, but a few were in Eb, F, or G -when the third key was added, some were in Ab Changes and Improvements -in 1720, the thumb key was moved up higher to make Bb easier to produce -near the middle of the 18th century, the bell was lengthened to make space for another key-covered hole -in between 1730 and 1740, a third key was added, to be played by either thumb, to fill in the missing notes between the two registers -in the late 18th century, the clarinet was extended in length to include 5 parts, instead of 3 or 4 -these pieces were: -the mouthpiece -the barrel -the left joint with 4 holes and 2 keys -the right joint with 3 holes and a pinky key -the bell Differences Between the Chalumeau and the Clarinet -the bore of clarinet was larger than the bore of the chalumeau -it was closer to the size of the bore of a modern Bb clarinet -clarinet has a separate mouthpiece, 2 keys, and a bell -clarinet can produce 3rd and 5th harmonics using the speaker key -keys are smaller and have a higher position on the clarinet -the clarinet had a poor lower register and the chalumeau had a strong lower register, so many times 18th century composers confused the two History -in the middle of the 18th century, it was said that the clarinet sounded much like a trumpet in the distance, some believe that early clarinets sometimes replaced trumpets -the name clarinet was derived from the word “clarino” which is Italian for a type of trumpet -the clarinet was not used much in the first half of the 18th century and it was only given restricted parts in ensembles -the clarinet is the youngest of all the winds in the orchestra -the earliest record of clarinets dates back to 1710, 3 years after Denner’s death -the first written record of the term clarinet was found in an order from the Nuremburg Town Band for four clarinets from Jacob Denner -one of the earliest 2-keyed clarinets can be found in the
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