Play Clarinet online
A wooden wind instrument with keys, blown through a single-reed mouthpiece; in Turkish music the lower-pitched G clarinet is mostly played.
Dizi
On a keyboard, the keys A S D F G H J K play the eight pitches of the scale.
We welcome your ideas.
Turn your phone sideways or switch to full screen to see the instrument larger.
Keyboard keys
Add it to your home screen as a separate app: opens with one tap and works offline too. Free.
Keyboard: the up and down arrows select a course, Space or Enter plays it, plus and minus move the selected course's mandal by one comma.
Tap or swipe on the right side; tap the labels on the left to select a course. No sound on iPhone? Turn off silent mode.
Mandals
Lower or raise each pitch one comma at a time with the mandal levers. The setting applies to every course that has no setting of its own.
Course mandal
Tune a single course separately from the pitch setting. Courses you don't adjust follow the pitch setting.
About the Clarinet
In brief
- Family: Single-reed wind instrument with keys; cylindrical bore
- Origin: Born around 1700 in Nuremberg when J. C. Denner added an octave key to the chalumeau
- Body and materials: Mostly African blackwood (grenadilla); plastic or ebonite on student models
- Tuning / range: About three octaves; in Turkish music the low-pitched G clarinet is common
- In Turkish music: Introduced in the 19th century with the Mızıka-yı Hümâyun; the Albert (simple) system is preferred
- Music: Fasıl, taksim, dance tunes, Romani and Rumelian music; Western orchestra and jazz
- Well-known players: Şükrü Tunar, Mustafa Kandıralı[1, 2]
Getting started: types, sizes, tuning
History
Developed in Europe in the early 18th century, the clarinet reached the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century with military bands. Over time it became a favourite of fasıl ensembles and of Romani and Rumelian music; masters such as Şükrü Tunar and Mustafa Kandıralı shaped the Turkish clarinet style.
Construction
It consists of a cylindrical body made of a hard wood such as ebony or of ebonite, a single-reed mouthpiece, finger holes, metal keys and a flaring bell. In Turkish music the Albert-system G clarinet is mostly used.
How it's played
It is blown with the reed resting on the lower lip; the fingers close the holes and the keys give additional notes. Pitches are finely adjusted by lip pressure, half-holing and slides.
Useful while you practice
Project notes
- Pitch system: Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek pitches are shown on a scale dividing the octave into 53 equal parts (the Holder comma, ≈22.6 cents), a close approximation of the theory's Pythagorean-ratio pitches. Each pitch is computed as its letter position plus the mandal shift; reference A4 = 440 Hz.
- Interval abbreviations: B = bakiye (4), S = küçük mücenneb (5), K = büyük mücenneb (8), T = tanini (9), A = augmented second (12–13 commas).
- Sound: real kanun recordings, retuned to comma precision for each pitch. With the synthesis option, each course is generated as three slightly detuned strings.
- Mandals: per-pitch tuning is the default; any course can also be tuned separately. Makam presets are per pitch.
- Known limitations: pitch names are referenced to Rast (G); makam presets are awaiting expert review.
Frequently asked questions about the Clarinet
How do I play the virtual clarinet?
In the realistic view, the clarinet is drawn horizontally: the body at the bottom plays the first octave, and its faded twin above plays the second. You play by tapping the holes or sliding your finger; you don't need to blow. On the keyboard, A–K plays the first octave and Q–U the second. From the “View” menu you can switch to simple keys, and on a phone you can enlarge the instrument by turning the screen sideways.
Can the virtual clarinet play the commas of the makams?
Yes. On a real clarinet, commas are produced with lip pressure, half-holes and slides; the virtual clarinet plays every pitch of the makam you choose directly at its comma value. You can choose from more than 150 makams in the makam strip and follow the tonic and dominant by their colored markings.
Where does the virtual clarinet's sound come from?
The sounds are B-flat clarinet recordings from the Musical Instrument Samples archive of the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios (Lawrence Fritts; unrestricted use permitted). Its timbre is slightly higher than that of the G clarinet common in Turkish music. Each pitch is tuned with comma precision from the nearest recording; you can also switch to the “Synthesis” option.
Can I practice fasıl pieces and dance tunes on the virtual clarinet?
Yes. If you choose the clarinet in the “Play it yourself” step of the “Learn this piece” section of a piece in the sheet music archive, the virtual clarinet opens with the piece's makam. Listening to the piece at a slow tempo and finding the phrases on the virtual clarinet makes it easier to learn where the pitches are on the real instrument and how the makam's seyir unfolds.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi