Klarinet Archive - Posting 000333.txt from 1996/11

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Rough, smooth, dark, bright-Who?
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 17:21:42 -0500

At 7:53 PM 11/15/96, Franck Laloe wrote:
> It
>may be true that the cutoff frequency is one of the parameters entering the
>bright/dark color of a tone, but there are so many others! personally I do
>not consider this a a scientific fact at all. The science of musical
>perception is very complicated. Maybe htis is why music is so interesting?
>Best wishes franck
>Franck Laloe, labo de physique de l'ENS, 24 rue Lhomond, F75005 Paris (France)
>tel 33 (1) 47 07 54 13, fax 45 35 00 76 -- laloe at physique.ens.fr

Certainly there are many other factors involved in tone quality, as we all
know, such as the reed, the mouthpiece, the player's embouchure, the air
pressure, the player's windway (as Benade called it), etc.

However, the original discussion about "darkness" on this list related to
whether one clarinet can be judged as darker or brighter than another.

And, with all other factors held constant, Benade proved through
independently verifiable (and verified) blind experiments that changes in
the cutoff frequency of an instrument (which is controlled by tone hole
geometry) are consistently and accurately perceived by trained listeners as
changes in "darkness". Higher cutoff = "brighter", Lower cutoff =
"darker".

This is a scientific fact. No doubt about it.

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