How the Subcontrabass clarinet makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the Subcontrabass clarinet belongs to the single-reed instruments: a single reed beats against a mouthpiece – clarinets and saxophones.
More broadly it is one of the aerophones (wind instruments), where sound comes from vibrating air.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
The contrabass clarinet (or pedal clarinet after the pedals of pipe organs) is an uncommonly used member of the clarinet family. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitched in B♭, sounding two octaves lower than the common B♭ soprano clarinet and one octave below the bass clarinet. Some contrabass clarinet models have extra keys to extend the range down to low written E♭3, D3 or C3. This gives a tessitura written range, notated in treble clef, of C3 – F6, which sounds B♭0 – E♭4. Some early instruments were pitched in C; Arnold Schoenberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke specifies a contrabass clarinet in A, but there is no evidence such an instrument has ever existed.
The smaller E♭ contra-alto clarinet is sometimes referred to as the "E♭ contrabass clarinet" and is pitched one octave lower than the E♭ alto clarinet.
Other single-reed instruments
Frequently asked questions
What does the Subcontrabass clarinet sound like?
As one of the single-reed instruments, its sound comes from the way a single reed beats against a mouthpiece.
What type of instrument is the Subcontrabass clarinet?
It is classified as single-reed instruments (Hornbostel–Sachs 422.211.2).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q98647213 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Contrabass clarinet – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Foag Klarinettenbau Bearbeitung und Collage Gisbert König – CC BY 4.0