Offers unique perspectives on the clarinet's historical role in various styles, genres, and ensembles, from jazz and ethnic traditions to classical chamber music, concertos, opera, and symphony orchestras.

Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire offers historic and analytical information concerning thirty major works for solo clarinet, clarinet and piano, and clarinet and orchestra. This information will enhance performance and be useful in preparing and presenting concerts, and recitals.

The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet is a practical guide to the world of the clarinet. It offers students and performers a composite survey of the history and repertoire of the instrument from its origins to the present day, as well as practical guidance on teaching and performing. Special focus is made on the various members of the extensive clarinet family and specialist chapters provide advice on the mechanics of clarinet playing, the art of historical performance, contemporary techniques, and the clarinet in jazz. A chapter on the professional clarinettist introduces the world of the performing musician, while a survey of the clarinet on record provides the listener with a useful guide to the recording history of the instrument. Informed by the experience of distinguished performers and teachers, this book makes an essential and stimulating reference book for all clarinet enthusiasts.

Titles in Dictionaries for the Modern Musician series offer both the novice and the advanced artist key information designed to convey the field of study and performance for a major instrument or instrument class, as well as the workings of musicians in areas from conducting to composing. Unlike other encyclopedic works, contributions to this series focus primarily on the knowledge required by the contemporary musical student or performer. Each dictionary covers topics from instrument parts to playing technique and major works to key figures. A must-have for any musician’s personal library! The clarinet has played an important role in all kinds of music, ranging from classical to jazz to the traditional music of varying ethnicities and traditions. A beloved band instrument to thousands of school children, the clarinet is also capable of capturing some of the most sublime musical moments in the hands of professional artists. It has found a home in any number of venues, from the great symphonic concert halls to local jazz clubs, from the streets of New Orleans to the film studios of Hollywood. In A Dictionary for the Modern Clarinet, scholar and musician Jane Ellsworth offers lovers of the clarinet the premiere reference book for information about this remarkable instrument. Containing over 400 terms, Ellsworth covers the clarinet's history (including both modern and historical instruments, common and rare), acoustics, construction, fingering systems and mechanisms, and techniques, as well as its more important performers, makers, and scholars. A Dictionary for the Modern Clarinetist will delight clarinet aficionados at all levels. For knowledgeable professionals it will serve as a quick and handy reference guide, useful in the high school or college library and the home teaching studio alike; students and amateurs will find it accessible and full of fascinating information about the world of the clarinet.