Klarinet Archive - Posting 000229.txt from 1996/09

From: Lisa Gartrell Yeo <ux403@-----.CA>
Subj: Clarinet Sound Revisited
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 23:36:26 -0400

Dan,

If I understood you correctly, you are saying
that I am conditioned to
believe there are differences in sound between clarinets from the
marketing of clarinet manufacturers. That is not the case; I never base
decisions in buying reeds, mouthpieces, or clarinets solely on the brand
name or on the description that a company has chosen to give the
tone quality of their clarinets. I simply try them for myself and try to
reach my own conclusions. I accept that this is subjective, and that no
two people will necesssarily choose the exact same instrument as their
first choice (which is a good thing!). So, yes, I agree that a large
part of what produces the sound is the individual player. But I also think
that equipment has an influence, albeit smaller by comparison. I can
hear differences, unfortunately I cannot prove it scientifically so I
will not belabour the point further.

However, I have read articles discussing scientific data acquired
from observing
the differences in tone quality between instruments. If I remember
correctly, the comparison was betweeen "French" style clarinets versus
"German". The study used a device to measure the presence of overtones
in certain pitches over the entire range of the clarinet. Significant
differences were noted, and the suggestion was made that this would
explain why the clarinets have a marked difference in tone quality: dare
I say that the German model were darker?!
If one can accept that there are measurable differences between two
different types of clarinet, why can't this concept be extended to
different models of the same kind of clarinet (ie French or German).
Surely there is some sort of mathematical explanation?
If anyone out there is hunting for a thesis topic, this one is begging to
be done.

Lisa Gartrell Yeo

PS I can dig out the article if anyone is interested and provide the
bibliographical info.