Music Composition DUMmIES

The B flat trumpet is a loud and high-sounding instrument, best for punching

out quick melody lines, which makes it a favorite for lead instrument in an

ensemble. It is the “brassiest” of the brass instruments.

B flat clarinet.......................................................................................

The clarinet is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misused instru-

ments in the orchestra. Way too many people start off on the clarinet in the

high school orchestra, only to ditch it as quickly as possible simply because

they have no idea of the potential of the instrument. Although many other

musical cultures have embraced the clarinet as the focal point of their

ensemble — especially klezmer and Bulgarian folk music — most of us in the

Western hemisphere think of Benny Goodman and Lawrence Welk when we

think of the clarinet. Just pick up any Naftule Brandwein or, in a more recent

context, Sex Mob or John Zorn record, and you’ll hear how amazing this

instrument can sound.

The clarinet is an extremely versatile instrument. It’s got a great range, is

built for speed, and is incredibly expressive. It has almost exactly the same

musical range as a guitar (Figure 14-2), so it’s very easy to play leads written

for guitars on the clarinet, and vice versa.

The B flat clarinet is, of course, a transposing instrument tuned to B flat. To

write music for it, you need to transpose the sheet music up a whole step

from concert pitch. The written range for B flat clarinet is E3 to A6.

To hear Write

CD

C#/D% D#/E%

DE

D#/E% F

EF#/G%

FG

F#/G% G#/A%

GA

G#/A% A#/B%

AB

A#/B% C

BC#/D%

168 Part IV: Orchestration and Arrangement