Now this is an instrument that almost made it to the final mix of one of my tracks from my first CD, Castle of Dreams, "The Wanderer's Tale". Originally, I wanted a clarinet to solo in the bridge part where there is no singing. Unfortunately, I could not get a hold of one, so my sax player for many years now, the great and talented David dallon, played the soprano sax, changed his embouchure (the tecnique of changing the shape of one's mouth while blowing through a reed of an instrument) a little, and actually succeeded in imitating the unique style of clarinet playing...and it worked! I wanted a Klezmer-like sound to the track. You can hear the results on my MUSIC page in this site.(For those who are unfamiliar with Klezmer music, it is a style of Jewish music normally played for weddings). Anyway, on with the clarinet! It has the largest pitch range of any woodwind instrument save the bassoon. All you have to do in order to hear it is to listen to the clarinet glissando that starts George Gershwin's classic orchestral piece "Rhapsody in Blue". (A glissando is when an isnrument glides from one pitch to another; the most extreme example I can give you is the orchestral glissando that divides and ends the Beatles' "A Day in the Life"). The word clarinet is derived from the Italian word "clarino" which means little trumpet. which makes sense because the earliest clarinets had a similar tone to trumpets. I hope to one day use this instrument at some capacity in future recordings because it adds an almost pastoral, woodsy feeling to music in certain ways. How I would use iut would be to not only express its extraordinary range, but to accent its expressive power. A great orchestral or even chamber liaison would be between the clarinet and flute. Or maybe the clarinet and bassoon (more about this instrument in my next entry of this series). The clarinet has only a single reed. Another great example in Pop that shows how beautiful a clarinet can be is, well, once again, from the Beatles. MCartney's playful "When I'm Sixty Four" dances around parodying the melody.Also check out Mozart and Aaron Copland's beautiful Clarinet Concertos. Ok, see you next time and I hope you enjoyed my new Press Release!:) BKT