Klarinet Archive - Posting 000150.txt from 1994/02

From: Joshua Proschan <0004839378@-----.COM>
Subj: acoustics (was vibrato)
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 1994 22:21:10 -0500

re: clarinet acoustics (was vibrato)

Cary Karp <nrm-karp@-----.SE> asks some questions
about my description of the clarinets harmonic structure:

>Could you please direct me to a source of more detailed data regarding the
>clarinet's inharmonicity. I had always understood that the continuous
>input of energy to the blown reed imposes a regime of harmonic
>oscillation on the coupled reed and air column.
>
>It is obvious that the stiffness of strings will cause them to behave in
>a non-linear manner resulting, for example, in the inharmonicity of struck
>piano strings. If the same strings are bowed, however, they will also be
>forced into harmonic vibration.
>
I am not sure what you mean by "inharmonicity". What I was trying to
describe was the departures from the simplest behavior of an ideal
resonator, whose harmonics have frequencies that are exact integer
multiples of the fundamental frequency. These departures will occur in
violin strings as well as piano strings, and will occur whether the
string is bowed, struck, or plucked. How large the departures are may
change depending on the thickness of the string, its tension, its
stiffness, how the sound is produced, temperature and humidity, etc.

> Where can I
>find hard data explaining the quantitative aspects of the vibrato-
>induced emphasis in the dissonances between the overtones?
>
Unfortunately I am short about a wall-and-a-half of bookcases, and my
references on music and acoustics are among the victims. Benade may
discuss this in his book on woodwind acoustics (neither the book nor
the exact title to hand). If not, I would start with the Journal of
Acoustics, and even more with the collections of reprints from Woodwind
Magazine. There was seems to have been a period earlier in this century
when clarinetists spent more time playing at frequency analyzers than to
audiences :->

Joshua Proschan Internet: jproschan@-----.com

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org