Klarinet Archive - Posting 000503.txt from 1996/07

From: Roger Shilcock
Subj: Ian Dilley - "colour"
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 04:00:05 -0400

I haven't read Benade, but tone quality "almost entirely" dependent on
cutoff frequency seems a *bit* extreme. Would this explain the
difference in sound between a clarinet and an oboe? I think not. The
1800s C instrument probably had smaller tone holes and a narrower bore
then a modern B flat. It would have been played with a decidedly
different mouthpiece as well, so its sound would not have resembled that
of a modern A clarinet much. Whatever the acoustic properties of the
instrument's tube, the reed/mouthpiece/embouchure/mouth cavity
combination are surely going to be important as well - aren't they?
Roger Shilcock
P.S. I recently tried a Noblet C clarinet for the first time ever, and
thought it sounded rather more like a classical clarinet (or, rather,
the reproductions I have heard) than any modern
B flat or A. The intonation was surprisingly good, too, considering the
mixed impressions contributors to this list have given of these instruments.