“Little Trumpet”: The History of the Clarinet

Jun 17, 2015

Over the last few weeks we’ve been diving into the history of different popular instruments. We started this historical journey in Letters, Dots, & Squiggles: A Brief History of Musical Notations with the history of the musical notations that allow musicians to know what they are suppose to do. From there we moved into actual instruments, starting with what is probably the most popular instrument in modern Western culture in From Oud to Electric: A Brief History of the Guitar, before moving onto the piano in From Mozart to Mercury: The History of the Piano and drums and percussion instruments in Keeping the Beat: Drumming Through History. Finally, last week we took a look at the history of one of the more popular woodwind instruments in Adolphe Sax & His Saxophone. And in discussing the origins of the saxophone last week, I briefly mentioned that the sax evolved from another single reed instrument. This week we’re going to take a step back, and talk a bit about the instrument that made the saxophone possible: the clarinet

The clarinet has been around for a while, but it’s outward appearance has changed remarkably since its initial creation in the late 1600s. At this time in history, nothing resembling the modern clarinet had been conceived, but orchestras did occasionally featured a small, single reed instrument called the chalumeau. Usually considered a shepherd’s instrument, the small instrument looked something like the recorder flute you or your children may have played in grammar school. Though it did occasionally appear in orchestral performances, it was mostly considered a solo instrument, and was thus mostly uninteresting to serious composers and musicians at the time. The small, wooden instrument had eight finger holes and a range of about one and a half octaves, but with no register key, it was confined to its primarily deep pitched notes.

It wasn’t until about the turn of the 18th century that the chalumeau was giving a modification that turned it into the first clarinet. Historical accounts often conflict regarding who exactly added the much needed register key, but nearly everyone can agree it was either German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner, or his son, Jacob. Regardless of whether it was the elder or younger Denner, one of them decided to convert one of the chalumeau’s keys into a register key, allowing it to play in more than one register. The modified instrument played beautifully in the middle register with a distinctive, loud, and shrill sound, earning itself a new name; clarinet, meaning “little trumpet.” However, these early clarinets did not play well in the lower register, so many musicians continued to use the chalumeau for these low notes. Slowly, as the clarinet improved and was able to better produce the notes that make up the lower register, the chalumeau fell into disuse, and the low register took on the name “chalumeau register.” The Denner clarinets had the original eight finger holes, with two keys, and could play a twelve pitch chromatic scale, but over time various instrument makers experimented with the design, adding more keys for improved tuning, easier fingering technique, and a moderately larger range. By Mozart’s time in the late end of the 1700s, these classical clarinets featured the same eight finger holes, but had increased the number of keys to five. By this time the clarinet, featuring a more mellow tone, was accepted into most orchestras. In fact, Mozart loved the sound so much that he wrote many of the first pieces for the clarinet, which he described as having a tone closest in quality to the human voice. By the early 1800s the clarinet had solidified its place as a standard component in the orchestra.

The early to mid-1800s saw the classical clarinet go through a number of alterations to become the modern instrument we know today. The first such change involved the pads used to cover the instrument’s tone holes. Originally, and for over a century, the clarinet’s tone hole pads were made from felt, which leaked air. Because of the use of this poor quality material, pad-covered holes had to be kept at a minimum, which in turn restricted the number and kinds of notes that could be played well. This issue wasn’t resolved until 1812, when the Russian-born inventor and clarinet enthusiast, Iwan Müller, created a new pad design that utilized leather or fish bladder to cover the tone hole. These materials were much more airtight than the felt previously used, allowing instrument makers to experiment further with the ever developing clarinet. Müller himself would design a new kind of clarinet that had seven finger holes and a total of thirteen keys. These modifications would allow the instrument to play comfortably in any key with ease.

The final piece of the puzzle that ultimately changed the clarinet into the instrument we know today came in 1839. Hyacinthe Klosé concocted a new arrangement of keys and finger holes, which allowed for a significantly easier fingering technique. Inspired by the Boehm system of keys and finger holes for flutes developed by Theobald Boehm, Klosé named his new configuration the Boehm system for clarinet, despite the fact that his new system only vaguely resembled Boehm’s. This new system was slow to catch on at first, but before too long it became the standard. In fact, today the Boehm system is used nearly everywhere in the world, with the only exceptions being Germany and Austria, where they use an instrument that is more of a direct descendant of Müller’s clarinet, called the Oehler system clarinet.

The clarinet has enjoyed a long life of popularity, and a wide range of genre use. Originally a solo shepherd’s instrument, the chalumeau evolved into the clarinet and found a home in the orchestra. But that wasn’t enough for this little instrument with big ambitions. From a single voice in the orchestra, the clarinet’s popularity grew until it found itself as one of (if not the) central instrument in jazz, beginning in 1910. The clarinet continued to lead swing bands and big bands throughout the boom of the 4at the end of the decade. While it’s true that the saxophone eventually stole the limelight from the clarinet, it has still enjoyed a fair amount of popularity, even appearing occasionally in rock music for acts such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Billy Joel, and even Aerosmith.

So when deciding on what instrument you might want to try, don’t disregard the humble clarinet. This little, unassuming instrument has some stories to tell if you only give clarinet lessons a try.