Klarinet Archive - Posting 000053.txt from 1996/05

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: A question about acoustics
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 11:32:59 -0400

Hi, Dan,

As I have been forced by the process of earning a DMA in performance to
become a scholar of some sort, and as I have been looking over my
dissertation recently, I feel ever-so-marginally qualified to give a
short answer and reference!

The bore shape of the clarinet is (basically) cylindrical. The bore
shape of the oboe especially is conical. Part of Denner's motivation to
*improve* the chalumeau is reportedly his shock at discovering the
overblowing capabilities of the chalumeau - at the twelfth, not the
octave. The manner in which the air column splits inside the cylindrical
pipe is what makes it overblow at the twelfth.

The best source I have found to understand acoustical processes
associated with the clarinet is "The Clarinet" by F. Geoffrey Rendall.
It goes into more detail than the Brymer book on this subject.

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu

On Thu, 2 May
1996, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> Would some kind soul out there help me understand why the clarinet
> overblows a 12th while a bassoon, a flute, and an oboe overblow an
> octave.
>
> Please, no shooting from the hip, but serious knowledge about the
> phenomenon. Even better would be an explanation followed by a
> scholarly reference.
>
> Much obliged.
>
>
> ====================================
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> (leeson@-----.edu)
> ====================================
>