Klarinet Archive - Posting 000488.txt from 1996/07

From: Ian Dilley <imd@-----.UK>
Subj: Re: boxwood vs ebony
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:12:02 -0400

> There are probably as many opinions as to whether material affects the
tone
> of the instrument as there are players. Most studies indicate tone is
> largely independent of the material with which an instrument is
constructed.
> (Of course, this is in reference to wind instruments.)

A H Benade discusses this in his book Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics and
comes to the same conclusion. He says that the tone colour of woodwind
instruments is almost entirely dependent on a value called cutoff frequency
which is a function of bore size, tone hole size and tone hole spacing.
The A clarinet for example has a lower cutoff frequency than a Bb giving
it a slightly darker sound.

He also measured a C clarinet from the early 1800s and found it to have a
considerably lower cutoff frequency than a modern instrument. So, maybe we
should play C clarinet parts on an A clarinet to get a similar sound!
(That should get Dan going again).