Klarinet Archive - Posting 000590.txt from 1997/03

From: "David C. Blumberg" <reedman@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Acoustic effects/FANS
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997 08:04:12 -0500

Off topic, but good anyway. The "Vornado" fan does not upset the Clarinet
tone nearly as much as a regular fan. If you have to practice in the heat-
try it. It won't make your sound waver like other fans do. That fan can be
gotten at the larger Hardware stores, or a specialty store like Brookstone
(but for a lot more $$).

At 08:36 AM 3/18/97 +0100, Luuk van Buul wrote:
>>
>> Gary Young wrote:
>>
>> >>... The fan imparted
>> >>a strange slow vibrato-like effect to the clarinet sound. (I don't
>> >>understand the acoustics of this.) At first I was irritated, but then I
>> >>realized this was the sort of thing Cage would have loved, and really got
>> >>into the sound.
>> >
>>
>> If you pivot around quickly while playing (preferably a note with lots of
>> fingers down like low E or B above middle C) you can get the same effect.
>> Walking quickly will also produce this effect. I believe it is because the
>> different overtones in the clarinet sound are being doppler shifted (each
>> overtone shifted differently according to its frequency) and they go out of
>> tune with each other. Effectively the tones that make up the clarinet sound
>> "split up". I love this effect.
>>
>> Jerry Korten
>> NYC
>>
>When a 'steady' sound is produced in a room, points where large or small
>amplitudes build up are more or less randomly distributed in space. The exact
>locations of these points are dependent on the frequencies present in the
sound
>spectrum and the lay-out of the room including furniture, people etc.
>In his book 'Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics' A.H.Benade explains that this
>pattern shifts unpredictably when moving anything around in the room
bigger than
>about 30cm. It is not important whether this moving around is done by the
>sound source itself, other people in the room or a wind fan (if big enough).
>
>So the described effect is most likely due to changing acoustical
'eigenstates'
>of the room you're playing in.
>
>Luuk van Buul
>--
>===========================================================================
=====
>L.J.M. van Buul
vanbuul@-----.com
>Philips Research Waalre Philips
Optoelectronics
>Prof.Holstlaan 4
>5656 AA Eindhoven Tel. +31 40
2744649
>The Netherlands Fax. +31 40
2744335
>===========================================================================
=====
>
>
David C. Blumberg
reedman@-----.com