ht sides and the hole that was not needed was blocked up.
On the chalumeau only the fundamental register was played. The sound is said to have been less than pleasant, having a wailing sound to it. Initially only the upper register was played on the clarinet. The high notes were produced by overblowing. Overblowing was achieved with the aid of a speaker key on the reverse of the tubing (which was operated by the thumb) and was made easier by the small mouthpiece and narrow reed. Because the clarinet overblows into the twelfth octave due to its cylindrical tubing, at least two keys were required to bride the gap between fundamental scale and the first overblown note.
The clarinet's timbre was originally hard and trumpet-like in the upper register, which earned the name clarino or, little trumpet. At the same time solo pieces for the clarinet began to appear which was already exploiting the instrument's great range and variety of timbre.
By the end of the 18th century, instruments with five keys had become
...