Contrabass clarinet

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

Related Topics:
Clarinet - Contra-alto clarinet - Bass clarinet

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While larger clarinets have occasionally been constructed http://www.contrabass.com/pages/octobass.html?including the rare E♭ octocontralto, and a single instance of an octocontrabass, or double contrabass, clarinet (sounding three octaves below the B♭ soprano clarinet and described by the Guinness Book Of Records as having the lowest range of any orchestral instrument)?the B♭ 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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Trombone - Organ

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There are not many brands of the contrabass clarinet; Leblanc builds a version made of metal (known as paperclip), Selmer a rosewood version looking much more like the Bass-clarinet, and Vito has a resonite (plastic) instrument.

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Probably the most known contrabass clarinet player is Anthony Braxton.

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