1 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to This Day in History class, a 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: show that strives to know at least a little bit 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: more history every day. I'm Gay Blusier, and in this 4 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: episode we're talking about the birth of one of the 5 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,639 Speaker 1: most versatile instruments in music history, a mainstay of classical 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: orchestra and jazz pieces, known as the clarinet. The day 7 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: was January four, six, ninety German instrument maker Johann Christophe 8 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: Denner created the world's first clarinet. Dinner was a master 9 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: craftsman when it came to existing instruments such as flutes, oboes, 10 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: and bassoons, but the clarinet was an instrument of his 11 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: own design. He had spent several years tinkering with the 12 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: project at his workshop in Nuremberg, and with the help 13 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: of his son Jacob, he finally finished his new instrument 14 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: in the late seventeenth century. There aren't many musical instruments 15 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: whose invention can be narrowed down to a particular date, 16 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: and that's because most of them evolved gradually over the 17 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: course of several hundred years. That's not the case with 18 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: the clarinet, but Denner did use an earlier woodwind instrument 19 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: as a starting point. It was called the shaloo Maw, 20 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,320 Speaker 1: and it looked a good deal like a modern day recorder, 21 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: except with a single read mouthpiece instead of a whistle. 22 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: The shaaloo Mah was intended for solo play, which was 23 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: done by covering different combinations of holes with the fingers 24 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,639 Speaker 1: to produce the different notes of a scale. This simple 25 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,919 Speaker 1: design and ease of use made it a popular choice 26 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: among shepherds, though whether or not their sheep were fans 27 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: as well remains unknown. Dinner and his son made several 28 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: crucial changes to the shallum's design, resulting in an altogether 29 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: different instrument rather than just a slight evolution. The biggest 30 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: innovation they made was the addition of two finger keys, 31 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: which increased the musical range of the shalou Mah by 32 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: more than two octaves. The clarinet could be played in 33 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: its lowest register, the so called shalloom register, without the 34 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 1: use of these keys, but if a musician wanted to 35 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: play higher notes, they could press one key to go 36 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: up a fifth to the clarion register, and if that 37 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: wasn't enough, they could press the other key to go 38 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: even higher in that same register. The Dinners also made 39 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: several other improvements over the shalloo maw. For starters, they 40 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: added a barrel connecting the mouthpiece and the upper joint 41 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: of the instrument. The barrel both shaped and directed the 42 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: air as it entered the instrument, greatly of affecting the 43 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: clarinet sound and intonation. The father son duo also enhanced 44 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: the distinct flared section at the end of the instrument. 45 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: This piece, known as the bell, helped to better project 46 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: sound and improve the tone of lower notes. Although the 47 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: original clarinet was very similar to the modern incarnation, there 48 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: have been some further improvements over the last few centuries. 49 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: For starters, the mouthpiece now faces the opposite direction compared 50 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: to Denner's forward facing opening. Also, while the original only 51 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: had eight holes and two keys, a modern clarinet features 52 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: around twenty keys in addition to a series of air 53 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: tight pads and rings. As for the name clarinet, that 54 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: was coined shortly after the instrument's invention, the Italian word 55 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: for trumpet is clarino and the word for little trumpet 56 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: is clarinet. Oh there's some debate a out how exactly 57 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: the term came to be applied to Denner's instrument, but 58 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: since its sound was not too far off from early 59 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: versions of the trumpet. It seems the intention was to 60 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: call it a little trumpet. Once Dinner unveiled his clarinet 61 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,840 Speaker 1: to the world, it's improved range and distinctive sound quickly 62 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: supplanted the shallow maw. The instrument's versatility made it a 63 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: much better fit for orchestral arrangements, and it was soon 64 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: swiftly adopted by celebrated composers such as Vivaldi, Handel, and Mozart. 65 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: Over time, the word clarinet came to refer to an 66 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: entire family of instruments, ranging from high to low registers 67 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: and greatly differing in both tone and size. The smallest 68 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: of the family is the piccolo clarinet, which is less 69 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,359 Speaker 1: than nine inches long. On the other end of the 70 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: spectrum is the contrabass clarinet, which is roughly seven and 71 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: a half feet long. There are nine other clarin nets 72 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: between those two extremes, but the most common and the 73 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,160 Speaker 1: one we're most familiar with, is the B flat clarinet. 74 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 1: Another popular type is the A clarinet, which is only 75 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: a half a tone lower than the B flat. If 76 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: you've ever heard Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. 77 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 1: This is the instrument that voices the cat. Aside from 78 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: classical European compositions, clarinets also featured prominently in the early 79 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: days of jazz. The instrument became a fixture in New 80 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: Orleans jazz clubs, but the clarinets true heyday was the 81 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: big band era of the nineteen forties, when it was 82 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,679 Speaker 1: put to good use by famous musicians such as Benny 83 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:56,280 Speaker 1: Goodman and Duke Ellington. However, as the big band genre declined, 84 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: so did the use of the clarinet in jazz. It 85 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: was gradually replaced with the saxophone, which had a mellower 86 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: sound and a simpler note system that made it easier 87 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: to write for and to play. That said, many jazz 88 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: bands still feature at least one clarinet, and the instrument 89 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: has even found its way into rock music. Over the years. 90 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: Artists like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Tom Waits, and 91 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: Radiohead have all included clarinets and their recordings, proving that 92 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: while the clarinets glory days maybe behind it, there's still 93 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: plenty of life left in the little trumpet. I'm Gabelusier 94 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history 95 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. You can learn even more 96 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram 97 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 1: at t d i HC Show, and if you have 98 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my 99 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: way at this Day at I heeart media dot com. 100 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank 101 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 102 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,880 Speaker 1: for another day in history class.