Klarinet Archive - Posting 000012.txt from 1994/12

From: edgar pearlstein <e_p@-----.EDU>
Subj: "Clarinet Acoustics", by O. Lee Gibson
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 22:35:41 -0500

There were a couple of posts today asking about the book by O.L. Gibson:
Clarinet Acoustics. So I went to our library and, lo, found it there.
Here are my comments on it, based on just a little browsing.
The book is short; only 76 pages, of small format. From my viewpoint
(I'm a physics professor and a mediocre amateur clarinetist), it isn't
really about acoustics, but about clarinet materials and construction.
There is no mathematics and not even a drawing. I didn't see any
scientific whoppers, and Gibson doesn't seem to commit the common error of
making sweeping generalizations from anecdotal evidence. He quotes from
two of my favorite authors on the physics of music, John Backus and Arthur
Benade.
It looks like the book will be fun to read, and I'll have time to do
that in about a month. If I have anything more to say about it then, I'll
report back.
Ed Pearlstein, University of Nebraska