Alto Clarinet

About the alto clarinet

The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E♭, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a greater resemblance to the bass clarinet in that it typically has a straight body (made of grenadilla or other wood, hard rubber, or plastic), but a curved neck and bell made of metal. All-metal alto clarinets also exist. In appearance it strongly resembles the basset horn, but usually differs in three respects: it is pitched a whole step lower, it lacks an extended lower range, and it has a wider bore than many basset horns.

The sounding range of the alto clarinet is from the concert G2 or G♭2 (in the second octave below middle C, bottom line of the bass clef) to B♭5 (in the second octave above middle C), with the exact upper end of the range depending on the skill of the player. Despite the broad range, the instrument is always scored in the treble clef. The alto clarinet sounds a major sixth lower than written. (In F, it sounds a perfect fifth lower than written).

Most modern alto clarinets, like other instruments in the clarinet family, have the Boehm system or Oehler system of keys and fingering, which means that this clarinet has virtually identical fingering to the others. The alto clarinet, however, often has an extra key allowing it to play a low (written) E♭, and a half-hole key controlled by the left-hand index finger with a vent that may be uncovered to assist in playing the altissimo register.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article “Alto clarinet”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.