The dominant and stimulating sounds of the clarinet is the reason behind why so many people have taken on board this remarkable sounding musical instrument

The clarinet's ancestor was the chalumeau--the first known true single reed instrument. It made its appearance in the late 16^th century and was not at that time flexible also having a range of about 1.5 octaves. It was a family thing where Johann Christoph Denner (Nuremburg) and his son, Jacob that are recognized for innovating the speaker key which gave light to the clarinet.

The clarinet overblows at the 12th, while most other woodwind instruments overblow at the octave. So, if you play with the thumb and your first three fingers of your left hand without the speaker key, you sound the note C. But when you add the speaker key, you will not reach a C an octave higher, you sound a G, which is the interval of a twelfth. It is because of his major improvements of the chalumeau J C Denner is named as the creator of the clarinet.

While almost nearly all other woodwind instruments have a conical bore the clarinet has a cylindrical bore—what that means is t doesn't flare, even though the bell of the clarinet is misleading and gives that impression. This is why the clarinet overblows at the twelfth as well as being laden with overtones, which evidently contributes to its rewarding sound.

Many improvements took place in the late 1700's to alter the image of the clarinet like more keys which were added and the tone holes were experimented with also initiating different cuts etc. Familiar at the time of the clarinet was Iwan Muller (German) who devised a thirteen keyed model. This clarinet was to remain in favour up until the late 18^th century.

Very similar to the clarinet is the Basset Horn a type usually pitched in F. It was this instrument that Mozart composed his Clarinet Concerto and Quintet. Mozart`s companion Anton Stadler was a virtuosic basset hornist and it was because of the sounds that he heard his friend play inspired Mozart to become more involved where he enjoyed listening to the deep dark tone of the clarinet.