Klarinet Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 1996/10

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: odd comment (acoustics)
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 12:09:08 -0400

Bill,

Sorry to contradict, but...your mouthpiece is very closed.

A 1.05mm opening is closer than the closest mouthpiece that Vandoren makes,
and they make quite a range. Their closest are the 2RV and 5RV, which have
openings of 1.065mm with facings of 19.5mm. Their most open is the 5JB
which is 1.47mm/22.5mm.

For a long time, I played on the B45, which has an opening of 1.195mm and a
facing of 21.5mm. At the Arizona conference two summers ago, I discovered
the B45 lyre (profile 88) for the first time. It sounds more like a B40,
but plays like a B45 (i.e. less resistance, quicker response).

In blind comparison tests with several people at the conference, I found
the B45 lyre to be the best sounding mouthpiece there. It has an opening
of 1.27mm and a facing of 22mm.

As for reeds, I have tried everything out there, and I keep coming back to
Vandoren V12 #3s.

And as for generating a sound that goes to "the back of the hall", the
harder the reed the "deader" the sound. Intuitively, one can understand
this by recognizing that resonant systems of any kind ring very easily.
Simply put, the more energy that is required to be put into a sytem in
order for it to resonate, the less resonant the system.

On the tip opening consider the following physical facts. As the tip of
the reed vibrates it moves back and forth. The louder one plays (i.e.
greater blowing pressure) the greater the motion of the tip of the reed.
For an average mouthpiece opening, the tip of the reed begins to hit the
mouthpiece at approximately a "mf" dynamic. As one plays louder and louder
the reed hits the mouthpiece more and more, so that the heretofore
sinusoidal vibration pattern of the reed becomes "chopped off". This
"chopping off" of the wave introduces many high harmonics that are
otherwise not in the sound. Furthermore, the physical distance that the
tip can travel before hitting the mouthpiece limits the maximum amplitude
of reed vibration, and therefore maximum dynamic the player can achieve.

To maintain as "pure" and "resonant" a sound as possible over the maximal
dynamic range, and to have a maximal dynamic range, one must use as open a
mouthpiece as is practical. This is the kind of sound that goes to the
"back of the hall", because it does not contain the white noise and "bad"
harmonics associated with a "chopped off" waveform.

As for #4 Vandoren V12s, I find them universally too hard. Some 3 1/2s are
OK. Most 3s are good (some too soft, some too hard).

--------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

At 9:09 AM 10/3/96, Fogle, Bill wrote:
>Roger---
>
>I thought alot about J. Cohler's posting and came to
>the conclusion that my reeds are not *that* firm and
>my mouthpiece not too closed. My first reading of what
>he wrote brought me to the (erroneous) conclusion
>that he was advocating a truly "soft" reed and a very "open"
>mouthpiece. Really, I think anyone who inspected my
>set-up would describe it as "moderate' even though I
>use a #4 reed and a tip opening of about 1.05 mm with a
>long facing. I think J. Cohler's message was about
>concertists using an extremely firm reed to achieve what
>has been described many times as the sound that goes
>to the "Back Of The Hall". ----Bill Fogle.

   
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