open mike -

You were absolutely right. The common Eb clarinet (alto) is smaller than the Bb Bass clarinet. It is, however, somewhat larger than the common Bb licorice stick.

There is, or has been, an Eb contrabass clarinet, but I don't think any living person has seen one except in a museum.

The clarinet and saxophone families go up and down in size, alternating between Eb and Bb, in the "normal" styles.

The most popular(?) saxophone is the Eb alto. The Eb bariton is "one octave larger/lower." Between the two, the Bb tenor.

Above the alto, the standard is a Bb Soprano, although a "pseudo soprano" in C was fairly popular some years ago.

Bb Bass saxophones also exist, below the baritone, but are very rare.

The clarinet - standard licorice stick style - usually plays from music written as for a Bb instrument, although the "key" for a clarinet is somewhat ambiguous. The "second register" fingers like a true Bb instrument, but the registers are an octave and a half apart, rather than an octave, so the fingering for the lower register is "in another key."

The alto clarinet - one of the most truly ugly* instruments ever built in its common form - is similarly called an Eb instrument, based on the fingering of the second register. (*Mechanically ugly - they can make good music.)

Below the alto, there's the Bb Bass clarinet.

Clarinets in A are made, and are written for and used in some orchestral work. They get so little use, however, that even professional musicians in the finest symphonies often just use a Bb with an "A barrel" A short section between the mouthpiece and the "keyed sections" can be replaced with a very slightly longer one to lower the Bb instrument to A. (Clarinets are often sold with both barrels, and many clarinet cases have a hole for the other barrel, even if you don't get it).

In actual fact, if you order a "clarinet in A" from the factory, you'll most likely get a Bb instrument with the A barrel. They'll keep the standard Bb barrel and charge you a few bucks more because it's a "special order." There is a real difference in the "professional" and "symphony" lines, but you're unlikely to find a student musician with one of those.

Almost any common band/orchestra instrument has been made in C, but the only one of the common Bb Eb family that's likely to crop up might be a "C - melody" (almost a soprano) saxophone. Most band/orchestra instructors would not accept one of these in their organization, so it's not likely one will show up.

Some of the "brass" instruments can swap a tube or two and change keys. This is what normally has been done if you run into a "C-bugle," (or sometimes an A-bugle) cornet or trumpet. It usually is the "standard instrument" with a different tuning slide. If they haven't lost it, they can stick the "original" tube back in and be in a "normal" Bb. On some, you can pull the existing tuning slide far enough to get an "A cornet" back to a Bb (or to get a Bb instrument in tune with that "standard pitch" at A=400Hz that used to be common on barroom pianos.) If a kid is using the instrument in a class at school, you can be fairly certain it will be in the common Bb.

John