Contrabass clarinet: Encyclopedia - Contrabass clarinet

Contrabass clarinet

The contrabass clarinet is the largest common member of the clarinet family. It is a Bb; instrument, although the Eb; contra-alto clarinet is sometimes referred to as the Eb; contrabass clarinet. The contra, as it is sometimes called, sounds two octaves below the "standard" Bb; soprano clarinet, and one octave below the Bb; bass clarinet.

While larger clarinets have occasionally been constructed [1]—including the rare EEEb octocontralto, and a single instance of a BBBb octocontrabass, or double contrabass, clarinet (sounding three octaves below the Bb; soprano clarinet and described by the Guinness Book Of World Records as having the lowest range of any orchestral instrument)—the Bb; contrabass remains the lowest-pitched member of the clarinet family in significant use. Arnold Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke specifies a contrabass clarinet in A, but there is no evidence of such an instrument ever existing.

The contrabass clarinet is also sometimes known by the name pedal clarinet—this term referring not to any aspect of the instrument's mechanism but to an analogy between its very low tones and the pedal tones of the trombone, or the pedal department of the organ.

There are not many brands of the contrabass clarinet; Leblanc builds a version made of metal (known as a paperclip contrabass due to its folded shape), Selmer makes a rosewood version looking much more like a longer version of the bass clarinet, and Vito has a resonite (plastic) instrument in the same long-body design. Unlike other clarinets, the contrabass clarinet is usually built with only a single trill key used by the right hand instead of four of them. The single key functions the same as the lowest trill key in other clarinets. Older Contrabass Clarinet models have a range extending down to low Eb, but newer Selmer and Leblanc models can play down to low C.

Probably the most known contrabass clarinet player is Anthony Braxton.

For More Information, see www.contrabass.com: [2]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Contrabass clarinet", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki