Klarinet Archive - Posting 000307.txt from 1997/01

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: How much opinion vs. how much fact
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1997 10:47:30 -0500

Dan Leeson writes:

>Finally this: where the holes are punched onto a cylinder of wood
>and where the keys are placed to control mechanisms that cover
>and uncover those holes has almost no affect on the sound character.
>So a German system B-flat sounds (in my opinion) very much like
>a French system B-flat because both cylinders of wood are
>essentially the same.

This whole discussion of which instruments to use is missing one basic point.

First, let me add my voice to the opinion that composers more often than
not have a tone quality in mind when they select an instrument for a part.
Therefore, absent any other direct evidence from the composer, one should
try to honor those wishes.

However, and this is a big one, "honoring those wishes" does not equal
"play on an instrument of the same transposing key". If it's the tone
quality he was after then we should honor that and not necessarily the key
of the instrument.

Allow me to explain.

First, Dan's statement about the holes in the instrument not making a
difference in tone quality is plainly, factually, and incontrovertibly
incorrect. Furthermore, it is not only wrong, but as I have posted in the
past, virtually the opposite is true.

As was proven years ago by Benade, perhaps the *single largest determining
factor* in the tone quality of a clarinet is its cutoff frequency. And it
is precisely the placement, size and shape of the holes that determines the
cutoff frequency. The bore dimensions, and particularly the bore variations
also play an important role in determining the cutoff.

In his book, "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics", Benade shows an important
graph comparing the cutoff frequencies of five different instruments: an
Albert System, Albert Bb, a Boehm System Buffet Bb, a Boehm System Buffet
A, a Mueller System Bilton C (1830), and an Oehler System Uebel Bb.

[To recap some of my previous messages a bit, for every fingering on the
instrument there is a cutoff frequency, and when one speaks of THE cutoff
frequency for an instrument, he is referring to the average cutoff
frequency across the bottom register of the instrument. Wind instruments
are designed, in general, to keep the cutoff frequency as constant as
possible across this range. Cutoff frequency is directly correlated with
the "darkness" or "brightness" of an instrument. Higher cutoff =
"brighter". Lower cutoff @-----. All of this is experimentally
verified fact, not opinion.]

I don't personally know the cutoff frequencies of modern-day German
instruments, but in the example given in the book, the Mueller System
Bilton C clarinet from 1830 has by far the lowest cutoff frequency (around
1400Hz). Whereas, Bonade points out, "Cutoff frequencies on today's
Boehm-system C clarinet normally lie in the region of 1700 Hz, making the
instrument bright for playing orchestral parts written in the early 1800s."

This is a perfect example of why it is not necessarily correct to say that
because so-and-so wrote for C clarinet, one must play it on C clarinet. In
fact, it actually may be more appropriate to play it on a Bb or an A,
depending on the actuall cutoff frequency characteristics of the
instruments in question. By the way, the same graph shows clearly that the
Buffet A is designed with a consistently lower cutoff frequency making it a
"darker" instrument. And the darkness is NOT a function of the fact that
pitch is one half step lower.

The original instrument/Early Music movement (of which, I am not a big
fan), would, of course, have everyone play everything on the exact
instrument that the copmoser wrote for. This is fortunately not practical
for anything other than historical curiosity.

One step away from that would be to have everyone playing on replicas.
Again, not practical.

Obviously, modern day instruments have made many improvements in
intonation, stability, evenness, and ease of sound production (not to
mention durability, serviceability etc.) over the old instruments.

Therefore, possibly the best approach would be to discover the prevailing
cutoff frequencies at the time and place and performers associated with the
composer in question, and attempt to match that with an appropriate modern
instrument (no matter what transposing key the instrument happens to be
in).

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