Klarinet Archive - Posting 000379.txt from 1997/01

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: How much opinion vs. how much fact
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 13:39:41 -0500

Jacqueline Eastwood writes:

>On Tue, 21 Jan 1997, Ian M. Dilley wrote:
>
>> I think I suggested playing C parts on an A clarinet some months ago
>> when this subject last came up. I'd just read Benade's book and seen
>> the same charts as you.
>>
>> On further reflection though, this is not a satisfactory solution for
>> a couple of reasons.
>>
>> First the break will be in a different place. No matter how much we
>> strive to hide it the frequency specrums of the different registers
>> are completely different so the tone quality of the notes that end up
>> in a different register will be different.
>>
>> Secondly the "bad" notes will be in different places. For example the
>> throat Bb which is a notoriously poor note would occur on Bbs on the
>> original C clarinet and on Gs on an A clarinet.
>>
>> Ian Dilley
>>
>I agree with this in a slightly different fashion. Oftentimes, I find I
>can identify which notes are being fingered on the instrument,
>particularly open G and top space E (3 + 2). So the sound character of
>the notes being fingered when one transposes will not be the sound
>character of the notes the composer had indicated. Depending on the
>fingerings involved, this could vastly change the overall sound character
>of the passage. Surely this relates to Jonathan Cohler's post re: cutoff
>frequencies? (Maybe that's what leads me to identify specific fingerings
>with my ear?)
>
>Jacqueline

This is a very interesting subject. But I think there are two different
issues here.

One is that individual fingerings have unique characteristics that are due
to the exact open and closed hole pattern for each fingering. As
clarinetists we can easily recognize these characteristics, and therefore
one can immediately recognize, for example, a fourth-space written E
independent of whether it is played on the A or the Bb clarinet.

Second, it is also true that the E on the A clarinet is darker (notice, Dan
L.that I use this word with impunity, because it does have a well-defined,
universally agreed upon, scientifically justified meaning) than the E on
the Bb.

So here's the interesting part.

I would submit that all instrumentalists are especially finely tuned to the
acoustical quirks of their own instrument, and that is why, for example, my
wife who is a concert violinist can distinguish in a matter of seconds what
position, fingering and bowing a player is using on a particular recording.

I would also submit that composers (or for that matter any people) who are
not players of a particular instrument are not, and cannot be, as acutely
attuned to those acoustical quirks as a player of the instrument is. That
said, I would add that certainly people with good ears, and lots of
experience, can tell the difference on big things (like the difference
between the G string and the E string, or a throat A and a long B on the
clarinet).

I would also submit that the overall darkness or brightness that anyone
perceives is (as Benade proved) a function of the amount of energy in the
upper part of the spectrum which on the woodwind instruments is largely
controlled by the cutoff frequency.

Therefore, unless the composer was himself a clarinetist, I believe that
the individual note acoustics (which is a much more subtle issue) was not
the overriding factor in the choice of instrument. Rather the overall
timbre of the instrument is what the composer was after, and as has been
experimentally verified by Benade, any good musician (of any instrument)
can distinguish the different timbres caused by different cutoff
frequencies.

I hope this was clear!

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