Klarinet Archive - Posting 000205.txt from 1995/02

From: Lorne G Buick - Music TA <lgbuick@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: Dan Leeson's test, German & French systems, etc.
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 15:03:03 -0500

On Thu, 9 Feb 1995, Roger J. Shilcock wrote:

> Surely the only way of determining once and for all whether there is a real
> difference would be to hear the same player play on both systems. Who would
> undertake this project just to please list subscribers, though?
> Roger Shilcock

It's been done. Seeing your comment reminded me that I promised Dan L.
severaly months ago that I would summarize this article for him, then
forgot all about it after his message got wiped oout of my inbox when the
system went down after Christmas. So here goes: [Dan, my apologies for not
doing this when I said I would]

In _The Clarinet_ v19 n1 (Feb/Mar '92), Gregg Miller has an article
entitled _An Acoustical Comparison of French and German Clarinets_. The
gist of it is that the difference most listeners think they hear, ie that
German clarinets sound darker, French ones brighter, does in fact have a
quantifiable acoustical basis.

He begins by describing the visible differences between the two systems
and mentioning the subjective descriptions of sound employed by
clarinetists and other listeners (dark, bright, hollow, rich, etc.) He
also mentions James Pyne's acoustical research on resonated fingerings for
throat notes, which "found that spectral analyses (graphs showing the
relative strength of each overtone) of these two pitches showed that with
the vented fingerings the lower-numbered partials were stronger and the
higher- numbered partials were weaker than with unvented fingerings." He
went to wonder if he could expand on this research to find a quantifiable
difference between French and German clarinets.

To this end he recruited four clarinetists and their clarinets: two
Wurlitzers, an R-13 and a Selmer Series 9. He made computer printouts of
various tones, with each player playing his/her own instrument and also
with the instruments traded (ie the player of a German instrument playing
a French one and vice versa). The article discusses the nature of clarinet
sound, with its strong odd-numbered and weak even ones, and sets out the
exact equipment used etc.

The results clearly show that the French instruments produce stronger
even- numbered partials and weaker odd-numbered partials than the German
ones (in the low register) and stronger partials in general in the high
register. This difference did not change substantially when the players
traded instruments. "Because this tendency of the French instruments is
contrary to the basic acoustical nature of the 'ideal' clarinet tone in
the chalumeau register- ie, one which contains strong odd-numbered
partials, and no even-numbered partials whatsoever- one could say that
French clarinets produce a less 'ideal' sound than German instruments in
this register, at least in the acoustical sense."

Continuing to quote Mr. Miller: "The contrast between instrument types in
the clarion register was of a different nature.... With only 3 exceptions
outof the 32 partials examined from the clarion register, the French
instruments consistently exhibited more strength in the partials above the
fundamental. Pyne's research indicates that this tendency- especially in
the higher-numbered partials (5-8)- causes the French instruments to
produce a more "strident", or brighter, sound than that of the German
clarinets. This is quantifiable evidence, then, that because French
clarinets produce stronger even-numbered partials in the chalumeau
register and stronger higher-numbered partials in the clarion register,
they do indeed have a brighter sound than German clarinets."

According to the "blurb" at the end of the article, Gregg Miller is
currently assistant prof. of music at Hastings College in Nebraska. Maybe
he has an email account....?