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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000074.txt from 1997/05
From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Air : amount,speed,presure etc.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 18:17:29 -0400
Roger Shilcock wrote:
>Doesn't the sounding length of the air column have a considerable effect
>on clarinet tone production?
Yes, in that it determines the wavelength of the lowest and usually largest
resonance peak of the air column. This in turn determines what note will
come out when blown "normall". Of course, by changing one's embouchure,
pressure on the reed, and tongue position, one can produce notes with
fundamental frequencies at virtually any of the resonance peaks. This is
how one plays the overtones of a fingering without changing the fingering
(and is good practice for learning proper embouchure position of high
notes).
That's it, as far as I know, hoewever. The length of tube up to first open
hole (for low register fingerings) determines the position of the peaks in
the air-column resonance curve,
The tone "quality" is determined more by the positioning, shape and size of
the tone holes and the bore.
-----------------------------------------------
On the subject of fast/slow, cold/hot air etc. here are my brief thoughts.
People have no conscious mechanism (to my knowledge) of controlling the
temperature of the air that comes out of them. When we blow on our hands
to warm them (and the air feels warm), we do so with a wide open mouth so
the air moves relatively slowly onto our hands. Therefore there is no
"wind chill" effect and the air feels warm.
If we blow faster air, the wind chill kicks in and the air feels cooler.
However, in both cases the temperature of the air is the same (presumably
somewhere between body temperature and room air temperature).
Furthermore, we have no direct mechanism of controlling air speed.
Therefore, in teaching students how to play the clarinet, I find it
completely useless to talk about things like hot/cold, fast/slow air with
them, because it is nothing that they have any direct control of.
On the other hand, they do have direct control and immediate understanding
of the physical parameters their body. The two important ones here are how
hard you push the air out (with your various abdominal muscles), and the
openness of your throat and oral cavities.
Telling students what to do with air speed is analagous to telling someone
learning spins in figure skating that they need to "spin faster", when what
they really need to know is "bring your arms in closer". Of course, once
the skater knows how to spin, you could tell him/her to spin faster, and
presumably he/she would know what to do to accomplish this. However, there
are more than one way to spin faster, and the student may do the wrong
thing (i.e. push off too hard with the foot, etc..)
Therefore, being precise about what it is that the student needs to
actually do to accomplish the desired effect is very important. Too many
vague, non-physical and inaccurate "concepts" float about this musical
world that obfuscate the real issues and confuse students who are working
hard to learn *how* to play.
---------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net
