It is possible to use the same mouthpiece, and even the same barrel, for both (see 'usage' below). The A and B в™ clarinets have nearly the same bore and use the same mouthpiece. The latter was centered on the clarinetists of the Conservatoire de Paris. The most prominent were the German/Viennese traditions and French school. Beginning in the late 18th century, geographical isolation of clarinetists and differences in instruments led to the development of several different schools of playing. Tone quality can vary greatly with the clarinetist, music, instrument, mouthpiece, and reed.

The clarinet's cylindrical bore is the main reason for its distinctive timbre, which varies between the three main registers (the chalumeau, clarion, and altissimo). The English form clarinet is found as early as 1733, and the now-archaic clarionet appears from 1784 until the early years of the 20th century. According to Johann Gottfried Walther, writing in 1732, the reason for the name is that 'it sounded from far off not unlike a trumpet'. This is probably the origin of the Italian clarinetto, itself a diminutive of clarino, and consequently of the European equivalents such as clarinette in French or the German Klarinette. Clarion, clarin, and the Italian clarino are all derived from the medieval term claro, which referred to an early form of trumpet. It would seem, however, that its real roots are to be found among some of the various names for trumpets used around the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The word clarinet may have entered the English language via the French clarinette (the feminine diminutive of Old French clarin or clarion), or from ProvenГ§al clarin, 'oboe'. The clarinet is used in classical music, concert bands, military bands, marching bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles. The clarinet family ranges from the (extremely rare) BBB в™ octo-contrabass to the A в™ piccolo clarinet. The modern bass clarinet is in B в™ but has extra keys to extend the register down to low written C3. The bass clarinet has been common in orchestras since the middle of the 19th century.

The clarinet in A, pitched a semitone lower, is also regularly used in orchestral, chamber, and solo music. The most common clarinet is the B в™ clarinet. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Johann Christoph Denner is generally believed to have invented the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the earlier chalumeau, usually in the key of C. The word clarinet may have come from the diminutive version of the clarion or clarino and it has been suggested that clarino players may have helped themselves out by playing particularly difficult passages on these newly developed 'mock trumpets'. The trumpet parts that required this specialty were known by the term clarino and this in turn came to apply to the musicians themselves. Since the trumpets of this time had no valves or pistons, melodic passages would often require the use of the highest part of the trumpet's range, where the harmonics were close enough together to produce scales of adjacent notes. During the Late Baroque era, composers such as Bach and Handel were making new demands on the skills of their trumpeters, who were often required to play difficult melodic passages in the high, or as it came to be called, 'clarion' register.

While the similarity in sound between the earliest clarinets and the trumpet may hold a clue to its name, other factors may have been involved. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist (sometimes spelled clarinettist). All have a nearly-cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and utilize a mouthpiece with a single reed. Like many wind instruments, clarinets are made in several different sizes, each having its own range of pitches. The clarinet is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument.

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