Klarinet Archive - Posting 000148.txt from 1994/05

From: David Richards <BR.DRR@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Instrument Acoustics
Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 13:26:23 -0400

There seems to be a fair amount of acoustical confusion
invading the KLARINET list. Clarinets are unique among
the woodwinds in that they overblow at the 12th. This
is because they have (approximately) cylindrical bores
effectively closed at one end by the mouthpiece/reed.
Their acoustical behavior follows from working out the
possible standing wave patterns that can exist in such
a tube. Flutes also have (approximately) cylindrical
bores, but they are open at both ends. This results in
overblowing at the octave. The other woodwinds (oboe,
bassoon, saxophone) all have conical bores. Although
they are all closed at one end by a mouthpiece and/or
reed, in turns out that a closed conical bore behaves
acoustically as if it were open at the mouthpiece/reed
end. Therefore, these instruments all overblow at the
octave. The clarinet fingering system is fundamentally
more complicated because several more notes must be
accomodated before the fingerings start to repeat.

David Richards

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