Klarinet Archive - Posting 000053.txt from 1996/10

From: "Fogle, Bill" <bill.fogle@-----.com>
Subj: Re: odd comment (acoustics)
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 14:01:28 -0400

Jonathan,

My tip opening is based on the maker's quote (Clark Fobes,
San Francisco) who himself says his measurements end up smaller
than Matsen's (a standard) guage. Also, I quoted it incorrectly (are you
reading this, Clark?) It's 1.00, actually. I also play with much delight a
Gregory Smith facing that I believe is pretty "open" (no tip figures
given).

I think there's a "center" that many players move toward, whether they
approach that place with soft reed/open mpc, or hard[er] reed/closed.
This applies to tone as well as resistance. In any case, I'm enjoying
your comments on this topic. I confess I like to "push" when playing,
and I also confess that my reading (David Pino comes to mind) has supported
the vogue for reeds with "heart" and long facing mouthpieces with *rather*
small openings. A question: you haven't said anything about length of lay.
When I was play-testing the Fobes mouthpieces, I found a difference
between his 17 and 18mm facing lengths (all mouthpieces differ, I realize).
Thanks, -----Bill Fogle.

-->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.