Klarinet Archive - Posting 000233.txt from 1996/08

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: instrument weight
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 11:05:31 -0400

On Thu, 8 Aug 1996, Robert J. Resnik wrote:

> I think that regardless of the material used to make an instrument that
> the "density" of the material certainly has some kind of effect on the
> tone produced. If you were able, for instance, to make three "identical"
> clarinets, with identical mouthpieces, reeds, ligs, etc. (as you can tell,
> we are already in an imaginary state!) and made one out of ebonite, one
> out of hard rubber, and one out of PVC (I am leaving wood out of this for
> the sake of argument...its easier for me to imagine exact dimensions and
> thicknesses with non-porous plastic and rubber) I would be willing to bet
> that you would find, if for no other reason than the way the body vibrates
> with the sound, that you would find a difference in tone in each
> instrument.
>
> No proof....just a guess!

I think all musicians guess that this is true, but every physicist and
acoustician in the world will tell us that it is not true. The generally
accepted position is that the contribution of the medium to the vibratory
characteristics of the tone of a wind instrument is so small as to be
negligible. For those of us who may feel differently, what is needed is
some kind of proof. Unfortunately for us, the acousticians feel that they
have already proven their case. We all have heard of clarinets made of
rubber hoses, trumptets imbedded in concrete, etc. One of the main
problems in trying to counter this argument is that it is not
practicable to construct otherwise identical instruments from different
materials. After all, it has been amply demonstrated that it is not
possible to construct identical instruments from the _same_ material,
grenadilla.

Ed Lacy
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Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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