If you’re a clarinet player, at some stage you might have to think about whether or not you need to get an A clarinet. Not all clarinettists will need one, but it’s good to know in what situations they can be useful. I’ll talk about the uses for the A clarinet, including when you can get away with not having one and when you really need one.
You don’t necessarily need an A clarinet if you’re a clarinettist – it depends what sort of playing you do. A professional classical clarinettist will usually need to get one, but amateur musicians won’t need to. If you play in a concert band you don’t tend to need an A clarinet either.
Lots of musicians will tell you that all good clarinettists need to have an A clarinet. While maximising the number of instruments you have can help you to get work, it’s not necessary in all cases. There are definitely going to be some people around who bought one because they thought they’d need it at some point, and it just sits in a back cupboard never getting played.
The most important thing to consider when you’re deciding whether you need an A clarinet or not is the type of music you expect to be playing. I’ll be looking at different ensembles and what’s expected from the clarinettists in each one. If you’re looking through thinking you want to play in all the ensembles where an A clarinet is helpful, then you should probably think about getting one. If not, you might be fine without.
Do I need an A clarinet in an orchestra
If you want to play in orchestras, there will definitely be parts for A clarinet. The standard orchestral setup will usually have four or five clarinets. One of the clarinettists will double on bass clarinet and one will double on Eb clarinet. These players might not need the A clarinet, as they’re already doubling.
The two or three other Bb clarinettists will be expected to play music for A clarinet. If you’re in an amateur orchestra, you’ll be able to get away with transposing it if you haven’t got an A clarinet. You’ll either have to be able to transpose at sight or be pretend to spend time typing it out. Transposing at sight is preferable for when you’re given new music in a rehearsal though.
If you want to get into a professional orchestra, chances are you won’t be accepted if you don’t have an A clarinet. It’s standard to have them and there will be a lot of other people that do. Even if you’re brilliant at Bb clarinet, competition is high and it’s likely that someone else will be just as good and have the A clarinet as well. In both professional and amateur orchestras, you’re maximising you’re chances of getting in by getting yourself the A clarinet, but if you’re an amateur, it’s less likely to be cost effective.
I haven’t specified the type of orchestra in this section (symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra etc.). This is because whatever type of orchestra you play in, it will be assumed that you have an A clarinet and will play it when needed. It’s worth knowing that this is assumed, because you won’t necessarily always be asked if you have one.
Do I need an A clarinet in a wind band?
A lot of people think of a wind band as an orchestra without strings. If that was the case, you’d expect the clarinettists to need A clarinets. However, there is pretty much no music written for A clarinet in a wind band and so it’s very unlikely that you’ll even be asked if you have one if that’s the type of band you want to join.
If you do still want an A clarinet, it can sometimes go in your favour if the band leader knows you have one. It makes it seem like you’re serious about music and gives a good first impression. This is usually more likely in a professional band, as there will be a lot more competition, but it’s worth mentioning in general. Don’t be surprised if you don’t really get to use it though – there isn’t normally any music written for it in a concert band.
Do I need an A clarinet for theatre playing?
If you’re a theatre player, e.g. a pit band musician or an opera musician, it’s a bit more tricky to work out whether an A clarinet will be useful to you or not. If you play in operas, it’s likely you’ll be playing music written in an orchestral style and then you will most likely need an A clarinet, particularly if it’s a small orchestra.
Pit band musicians are less likely to need an A clarinet. If the part is a doubling part (where you play multiple instruments, not necessarily two), and not all instruments are clarinets, it’s very unlikely that they’ll expect you to have an A clarinet. If it’s one of the older musicals, with a more orchestral score, and your first instrument is the clarinet, you might get given an orchestral clarinet part that has an A clarinet part.
In general, if you’re going to do a range of theatre playing, you can probably manage without an A clarinet. If you’re a clarinet specialist and you do a lot of playing for operas, you’ll probably need to get one. If clarinet is not your first instrument and you just double on it with other woodwind, you’re very unlikely to need one. As with other ensembles, it always looks good if you can say you have one, but isn’t always worth the money.
Do I need an A clarinet for chamber ensembles?
This one is a bit more difficult to answer, because it really depends on the type of group you’re playing in. A lot of clarinet choirs and smaller clarinet ensembles don’t actually have A clarinets and have some amount of Eb, Bb and bass clarinets. A woodwind quintet (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and french horn) is predominantly classical, but still doesn’t often require the clarinettist to have an A clarinet.
In reality, chamber music can be any small group of instrumentalists. This means that there will definitely be plenty of chamber music that does require an A clarinet. Then, as before, it might not be necessary to have one in all cases, but you’ll have a much better chance of getting work if you do have one.
Do I need an A clarinet for solo playing?
Again, this really depends on the type of repertoire you want to play. You have complete freedom to choose this if you are a soloist, so if you don’t want an A clarinet, or would struggle to afford one, you can just choose not to play pieces that require one. If you want to play mostly classical repertoire, though, you might find that you get taken more seriously if you do have an A clarinet, and no matter how annoying that might be, it will still happen sometimes. You have to decide if that’s a good enough reason to get one.
If you don’t play classical solo music, the chances of you needing an A clarinet are really small. It will basically just come down to whether you choose to get one or not. You might want one in case you move into more classical playing in the future, or you might just want one because you think they sound nicer, or to add to your collection. Whatever the reason, it can only ever give you more chance of getting work to have one. The only real downside is that they can be really expensive.