Alto clarinet

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The alto clarinet, which is the true alto voice of the clarinet choir, has a dark, reedy, and sonorous tone color. In fact, its sonority, note for note, is greater than that of any other of the clarinet class... the entire range of the alto clarinet.... possesses an evenness and balance which surpass both the soprano and the bass voices... It adds to the sonority without disturbing; it adds to the body of the clarinet timbre without distortion. It is the perfect catalyst for blend of tone in the clarinet section... It is the well-nigh perfect ensemble instrument of its class and therefore indispensible in that category. -- Wm. H. Stubbins, The Art of Clarinetistry
I'm sorry, kids. Clarinet is a fine instrument. Alto saxophone is a fine instrument. Alto clarinet is - an oddity. Learn from it while playing it in school, as I admit to having done, and move on. -- Resurgere
The Alto Clarinet is one of those instruments that very few people wish to play. It has much less resistence than the traditional Bb Soprano Clarinet and is much harder to keep in tune, making it one of the least favored instruments of a band. Some people don't even like the sound of it. However, if one is able to play it well, the Alto Clarinet can be one of the most rewarding instruments. Because of its range, the Alto Clarinet may play with either the lower or higher ends of the band scale, creating magnificent harmonies. Don't listen to Resurgere, try playing this beautiful instrument--you might just learn to love it as much as I do. -- Megan Moore, Alto Clarinetist (and loving it!) since 2003
Q. What's the definition of a nerd? A. Someone who owns his own alto clarinet. -- anonymous

The alto clarinet (Category 2) is a member of the clarinet family. Like the rest of the clarinet family, it uses essentially the same fingerings as the familiar Bb soprano clarinet; but it sounds about half an octave (a perfect fifth) lower. It's a transposing instrument in Eb, meaning that the note played by an alto clarinetist upon seeing a C in the notated music is actually an Eb, a major sixth below the written note. The alto clarinet usually has a wood or resin body, with a curved metal neck and bell that make it look more like a small bass clarinet than a large soprano clarinet. Also like many bass clarinets, the alto's range extends to low (written) Eb, whereas the soprano usually goes only to E.

The alto might easily be confused with another clarinet family member, the bassett horn. The latter is usually pitched in F, two half steps higher than the alto, but has an extended lower range usually down to (written) C, sounding one half step lower than the alto's low (written) Eb. The bassett horn also usually has a smaller bore than the alto, and a smaller mouthpiece.

On a practical level, alto clarinets differ from basset horns and bass clarinets in that used instruments are cheaper and easier to come by! If you shop around you can probably pick up a school surplus alto clarinet for under US $100. Of course it'll probably need some work, and was probably one of the cheaper and more problematic models in the first place. But given that new altos sell for US $1000 to US $6800 last time I looked, and functioning used bass clarinets on eBay rarely sell for under US $250, those who are intrigued by low clarinets but can't scrape together much cash may find an alto is just the thing. (Further data: in recent eBay sales, median selling price for alto clarinets was about $150; for basses, about $450.)

Alto clarinets have never gained a foothold in orchestral music, but are commonly found in clarinet choirs and wind bands. However, their parts often simply double those of other instruments and the rare solo is usually cued in other parts, so the instrument is often regarded as unimportant or worse, and is often omitted. (See this recent survey on whether the alto clarinet should be phased out of the concert band. And note that essentially the same discussion -- with approximately the same outcome -- took place in the pages of The Instrumentalist magazine about 50 years previously!)

Some jazz and new age musicians have included alto clarinet among the instruments they play; a quick Google search turns up the names Muhal Richard Abrams, Hamiet Bluiett, Nick Brignola, Peter Brotzmann, Edward Capel, Buddy Collette, Frank Foster, Peter Fuglsand, Dan Higgins, Joseph Jarman, Steven Kamperman, Joe Lovano, Frank Macchia, Scott Robinson, Thomas Frasier Scott, Gianluigi Trovesi, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., and Bruce Williamson among others. History

A couple of quotes on the history of the alto clarinet. I should mention that some of what Rendall wrote about the early history of the clarinet has since been shown to be incorrect, so it may be best not to assume he's got everything about the alto's history right!

The history of the alto and tenor clarinets is obscure. They may have been developments of the clarinet in G, la grande clarinette, which finds a place in Roeser, Laborde, and Francoeur; or, of the clarinette d'amour with a normal in place of a piriform bell to give a franker and more open tone. Again, they may be simply variants, truncated versions of the basset-horn. There is every reason to think that the latter with a history reaching back to 1770 was first in the field, and that the alto and tenor were not independent growths. In the midst of obscurity one fact emerges, that the credit for the "invention" of the alto was taken by Iwan Müller. In 1808 he was in Berlin and Vienna performing upon an 18-key basset-horn by Grenser of Dresden. Possibly he found the thumb-keys an obstacle to rapid execution; certainly in his tutor, published circa 1825, his clarinette-alto is shown without them. Curt Sachs in his Handbuch der Instrumentenkunde states that in 1808 Grenser began the manufacture of straight-bodied basset-horns without the supplementary keys, and thus claims the priority of the "invention" for Germany. -- F. Geoffrey Rendall: The Clarinet: Some Notes upon its History and Construction, 2nd ed. (1957).
Alto and bass clarinets with the same range as the normal clarinet emerged in the 1820s; their design was dramatically improved by Adophe Sax, who enlarged the bore, enlarged the toneholes, redesigned the keywork and enlarged the mouthpiece. Sax's instruments were pitched in Eb and Bb rather than in F and in C. -- Nicholas Shackleton: 'The development of the clarinet', The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet, ed. Colin Lawson (1995).'
The history of the alto clarinet as we now understand it may be said to begin in the early 19th century with the design of instruments of large bore, first in F and later in E for military bands, both in France (those made by Cuvillier and Simiot, for example) and Germany (Grenser and Wiesner). -- Nicholas Shackleton: 'Alto Clarinet', Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 1 Jul 2005), <http://www.grovemusic.com> (subscription).

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