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BASS CLARINET (Fr. clarinette basse; ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 491 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BASS See also:CLARINET (Fr. clarinette basse; Ger. Bass-Klarinette; Ital. darinetto basso or clarone) , practically the A, Bb or C clarinet speaking an See also:octave See also:lower; what therefore has been said concerning the fingering, transposition, acoustic properties and See also:general See also:history of the clarinet (q.v.) also applies to the bass clarinet. Owing to its greater length the See also:form of the bass clarinet differs from that of the clarinets in that the See also:bell See also:joint is See also:bent up in front of the See also:instrument, terminating in a large gloxinea-shaped bell, and that the See also:mouthpiece is attached by means of a strong ligature and screws to a See also:serpent-shaped crook of See also:brass or See also:silver. The See also:compass of the See also:modern orchestral bass clarinet is in the See also:main the same as that of the higher clarinets in C, Bb and A, but an octave lower, and therefore for the bass clarinet in C is t ; for the bass clarinet in Bb the real sounds See also:ace one See also:tone, and for the bass clarinet in A IZ tone lower, although the notation is the same for all three. Sometimes the See also:treble def is used in notation for the bass clarinet. It must then be understood that the instrument in C speaks an491 octave lower, the bass clarinet in Bb a'See also:major ninth and the bass clarinet in A a See also:minor tenth lower. The See also:tenor clef is also frequently used in orchestral See also:works. The quality of tone is less reedy in the bass clarinet than in the higher See also:instruments. It resembles the See also:bourdon stop on the See also:organ, and in the lowest See also:register, more especially, the tone is somewhat hollow and wanting in See also:power although mellower than that of the See also:bassoon. In the lowest octave the instrument speaks slowly and is chiefly used. for sustained bass or See also:melody notes; rapid passages are impossible. The modern orchestral See also:model may be fitted with almost every See also:kind of See also:key-mechanism, including the See also:Boehm, and the degree of perfection and ingenuity attained has removed the all but insuperable difficulties which stood in the way of the See also:original inventors who, not understanding key-See also:work, made many futile attempts to See also:bridge the necessarily See also:great distance between the See also:finger-holes by making the See also:bore See also:serpentine, See also:boring the holes obliquely, &c. The See also:low See also:pitch of the bass clarinet (8 ft. tone) contrasted with the moderate length of the instrument—whose bore See also:measures only some 42 to 43 inches from mouthpiece to bell, whereas that of the bassoon, an instrument of the same pitch, is twice that length—is a See also:puzzle to many.

An explanation of the fact is to be found in the See also:

peculiar acoustic properties of the cylindrical See also:tube played by means of a See also:reed mouthpiece characterizing the clarinet See also:family, which acts as a closed See also:pipe speaking an octave lower than an open pipe of the same length, and overblowing a twelfth instead. of an octave.

End of Article: BASS CLARINET (Fr. clarinette basse; Ger. Bass-Klarinette; Ital. darinetto basso or clarone)

Additional information and Comments

Bass Clarinet is the only instrument to be considered both brass and woodwind by conductors , while switching back and forth between the two constantly depending on the scenario.
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