Alto clarinet
The alto clarinet is pitched in E flat and sounds one octave lower than
the little baby E-flat clarinet. It is mostly used to replace or complement
the 3rd part of a quartet. It's beautiful sound is perfect in small ensembles
(clarinet choires), especially together with the Bass clarinet. The Alto is
not easy to play, and it takes a few hours to adapt to the larger size. It will also
take a while to learn how to intonate and play in tune.
You need to have a strap around your neck to carry the instrument while playing
or some variants has a floor peg like the bass clarinet.
The picture below shows how you play the alto. Click on the image to show full size.
Back to the clarinet family
This page was updated 1998-11-16.
Please comment on this site by mailing me.