Historically, the Bb clarinet was often used by early exponents of jazz and swing. However, the Bb clarinet is used across the majority of musical styles, which goes some way to demonstrating its remarkable versatility. It is usually necessary for an orchestral clarinettist to have both a Bb instrument and an A instrument at hand for the same performance. How could a B flat clarinet prove useful in practice? An advanced Bb player may add an A clarinet to their collection at an appropriate stage of their development as a musician. A clarinets, for instance, are only really used for certain orchestral and chamber music situations. Both types are sometimes called 'soprano' clarinets, but can be distinguished by their slightly different sizes and the different applications The closest alternative to a Bb clarinet is an A clarinet. It is a diatonic semitone above A and a chromatic semitone below B. The term 'Bb' refers to the 11th step, starting from the C step, of the Western chromatic scale.
