Klarinet Archive - Posting 000923.txt from 1997/05

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Pitch of tuning notes
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 21:26:24 -0400

Jerry Korten wrote:

>Jonathan,
>
>Do you think Ian may have been refering to difference tones, which to my
>understanding are how two frequencies interfere on the ear drum itself?
>
>Basset's duet makes extensive use of this phenomenon, which is also truly
>wierd and interesting.
>

In the message that I responded to, Ian had posited that it was better to
play a note on the clarinet with the fundamental slightly sharp, because he
thought that the upper partials on the clarinet were flat and that the
piano's were sharp.

I indicated first that the only sharp partials on the piano occur in the
upper extremes of the piano range (and therefore don't really come into
play in many cases), and the clarinet partials are all perfectly in tune.
Therefore it is best to tune the fundamentals in tune, i.e. with no beats.

As for difference tones, these result from non-linearities in the way the
human ear functions, so that when two notes are played simultaneously our
ear also hears the note with a frequency of f1 - f2.

So for example, if one plays a high concert E (frequency 1320 Hz) and a
high concert C# (frequency 1100 Hz), one will also hear the note:

1320 - 1100 = 220 Hz

or the A an octave below A 440.

If the ear were perfectly linear, this would not be the case.

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