Ear Training for Clarinetists
The clarinet is the odd one out among the woodwinds. Its register key jumps a 12th rather than an octave, its written notes are a step away from what sounds, and its pitch goes flat when you push rather than sharp. Every one of those quirks is easier to live with once your ear knows what to expect.
Start training freeA sampled Bb clarinet is built in, and there is no account to set up.
Written pitch, concert pitch, and how the app bridges them
You play a Bb clarinet, so your written C sounds as concert Bb, a major 2nd lower. When the pianist plays a C and asks you to match it, you finger a D. Most clarinetists stop noticing this after the first year, and that is exactly the point: you read your part, you play, and the transposition happens somewhere below conscious thought. The trainer respects that habit. It plays the concert pitch you would actually hear from your instrument, and you answer in written pitch on the treble staff, across the instrument's written range from low E3 to C7. Nothing to convert. Hear the sound, place it where your part would print it.
The one time this catches people out is when they have done all their previous ear training on a piano. A written G on clarinet sounds like concert F, and if your inner ear has spent years labelling that sound "F", you will hesitate. A few sessions with the clarinet sound selected recalibrates the label, and you end up with something valuable: the ability to hear concert pitch and think in written pitch at the same time, which is the skill section leaders and doublers rely on.
The register key and the perfect 12th
Press the register key on a low written E and you get B, a 12th up, not the E an octave up that a flutist or saxophonist would expect. The clarinet's bore acts as a closed cylindrical pipe, so it produces only the odd harmonics, and the first one available is the third partial: an octave plus a perfect 5th. That single fact shapes the whole instrument. It is why the fingering system has a chalumeau register and a clarion register with a set of throat tones wedged between them, and it is why the perfect 12th is the clarinetist's structural interval.
Train it. The interval trainer covers compound intervals, and the 12th deserves a place in your practice next to the octave and the 5th it is built from. When you can hear a 12th as a single, recognisable sound, the relationship between your two main registers stops being a mechanical rule and becomes something you hear.
The break, the throat tones, and the minor 2nd
Ask any clarinetist where the hard part of the instrument lives and they will point to the same place: written Bb4 to B4, the break. One step of a minor 2nd, and almost every finger moves. The throat tones just below it (G, G sharp, A, Bb) tend to sound thin and run sharp unless you add resonance fingerings. What ear training adds here is a clear target. Players who hear the B before they move to it land it in tune with a full sound. Players who are only thinking about fingers arrive late and flat. Drill the minor and major 2nd until the difference is instant, and spend time in Custom difficulty with the range set to the throat tones and the notes just above the break, so those particular pitches become as familiar by ear as they are awkward by hand.
Chord tones for the section and the soloist
In a concert band the clarinet section does the job the violins do in an orchestra, which means a lot of harmonised writing in 3rds and 6ths between first, second and third parts. If you play jazz or klezmer, chord tones are your vocabulary, and both traditions are learned largely by ear. The clarinet plays one note at a time, so the trainer gives you Arpeggios mode: the notes of a chord sound one by one on the clarinet and you find each one on the staff. Start with major and minor triads, add dominant 7ths, and read how to recognize chords by ear when you want to start naming the quality from the first two notes.
A 10-minute daily routine for clarinet
- 2 minutes: single notes. Note recognition on the clarinet sound. Easy first, then Medium.
- 2 minutes: the awkward zone. Custom difficulty, range set to written G4 to D5. Throat tones and the notes just over the break, until they are as familiar to your ear as low C.
- 3 minutes: intervals. Interval mode, giving extra attention to 2nds, 5ths, octaves and 12ths.
- 2 minutes: arpeggios. Arpeggios, major and minor triads first, then dominant 7ths.
- 1 minute: the daily challenge. One puzzle for everyone, once a day.
Follow it at the instrument with long tones over the break: play throat Bb, hear the B, move. Then play a written E and its 12th with and without the register key, listening for whether the upper note is exactly where the ear expects. If you learn tunes from recordings, remember that what you hear is concert pitch and what you finger is a step higher; the workflow in how to transcribe music by ear applies, with that one adjustment. For the overall beginner's path, see how to train your ear.
Frequently asked questions
How does the app handle the Bb clarinet's transposition?
It plays concert pitch and you answer in written pitch on the treble staff, from written E3 to C7, the same way you read a part. No mental transposing required.
Why does the register key give a 12th instead of an octave?
The clarinet's closed cylindrical bore produces only odd harmonics, so the first overtone is the third partial, a perfect 12th up. Flutes, oboes and saxes overblow at the octave; the clarinet does not.
Does ear training help with crossing the break?
Yes. Hearing the clarion B clearly before you leave throat Bb makes the fingering change land in tune and on time.
Which register should I practise ear training in first?
The written C4 to C5 octave the app starts you in, which already crosses the break. Then Hard for the full range and Custom to isolate the chalumeau or the altissimo.
Related instruments: the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone pages are the natural companions for doublers, and the rest of the woodwinds are the flute, piccolo, recorder, oboe and bassoon. The trumpet page covers the other common Bb instrument in the band.