My Band Assignment 1

The Clarinet

History, Who, What and Where

The Clarinet was invented by Johann Christoph Denner in Nuremberg, Germany on January 14th in the 1690s. Johann’s son Jacob took part in helping his dad make a new and improved instrument out of an older one called the “Chalumeau.” Johann added two keys to the older instrument. And he also created a better mouthpiece. His son (Jacob) improved the bell. In the 1880s Klose added the Boehm flute key system into the clarinet. The first composer to include a clarinet in a piece of music was Mozart.

The word clarinet is an Italian word, -et the suffix means little and clarino means trumpet like, because in earlier times the clarinet had a tone similar to the trumpet.

The Style of Music in Which the Clarinet is Used.

The clarinet in B Flat is used in three main music categories. The first one is Jazz. The second favorite is Classical music. The last one is contemporary. But most of the standard clarinets such as the B Flat and the A are used in orchestras.

Famous Clarinet Players (both historical and contemporary)

Some of the most famous clarinet players go by the names: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and another world famous clarinet player is Woody Herman. But a newer famous clarinetist is Anthony McGill who played at President Obama's swearing-in ceremony.

This is a photo of Benny Goodman.

This is Anthony McGill, Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman playing at Obama's Inaugration.

Resources:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/clarinet.aspx
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_facts_about_the_clarinet
http://www.1st-clarinet-music.com/Articles/clarinet-facts.htm
http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1690/january_14_1690_38868.html
http://www.clarinet-now.com/famous-clarinet-players.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarinet
http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/Clarinet.htm
http://musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/a/clarinettypes.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_facts_about_the_clarinet

My Band Blog

Hi Everyone

I'm so excited to begin my first blog entry! The purpose of my blog is to document and store all of my band related assignments and information. I'll also include my favourite songs, fun facts  and information about the instrument I am playing in band - the clarinet.

The idea for my blog's came from a quote by a famous person - the Greek Philsopher, Plato. 

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything."
- Plato -

I hope you enjoy my blog.