Klarinet Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 1994/05

From: "Jay Heiser, Product Manager, Govt Systems" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Wood and its availability
Date: Mon, 2 May 1994 13:30:06 -0400

-->From sco.sco.com!vtbit.cc.vt.edu!vccscent.bitnet!klarinet Mon May 2 12:53:39
1994
-->Date: Mon, 2 May 1994 09:33:11 -0700
-->Reply-To: leeson@-----.edu
-->Sender: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>

-->sound of the clarinet has very little to do with the the wood. We
-->have been through this enough times that it is not necessary to rehash
-->our arguments, but I did want to let any new people on the board (new since
-->our very extensive discussions on the source of the clarinet's
-->characteristic sound) that we left this point somewhat divided with one
-->group leaning towards the view that Fountain expressed and what I believe
-->to be a much larger group expressing the view that the sound of a clarinet
-->has little - but not nothing - to do with the material of which it is made.
-->
-->Just wanted to nail that down, Jay.
-->

The new people on the board should also realize that someone with
access to a periodical reference has identified relevant articles
("Journal of Acoustics"?), but nobody has actually found the articles
and reported back to the group on what they said.

In other words, the question "Where does the sound come out?"
has never been answered.

I'm willing to accept that the construction material is of
lesser relevance, but I still believe its significant. I'm sure
Pete Fountain was both romanticising the wood and has not read
the "Journal of Acoustics". ;-)

If an electric guitar player can tell the difference between
rosewood and ebony necks (electric guitar use electro-magnetic
pickups that create a signal proportional to the vibration of
the strings and rely on no acoustic amplification), why shouldn't
I be able to tell the difference between two different clarinets?
A clarinet vibrates, doesn't it? This vibration must have its
own sonic characteristics and might also affect the more significant
vibration of the air column.

If nobody located at a university with a good library wants to
look these up and report back, I guess I could drive downtown and
see if the Library of Congress subscribes. The local libraries
are terrible, but they might be able to do an inter-library loan.
======================================
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