Klarinet Archive - Posting 000290.txt from 1997/10

From: Jrykorten@-----.com
Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #301
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 18:43:29 -0400

In a message dated 97-10-08 09:24:29 EDT, you write:

<<
>Golly, that was a long note from Jerry Korten. I read it several
>times. I wish I knew all that stuff that Jerry knows, and that is
> not a disingenuous statement. I'm really impressed by the
> breadth of his knowledge in this respect. Serious statement.

Dan if you read O. Lee Gibson's book you will learn two things:

1 - you and I did not learn english the same way O. Lee did and so you will
have to read the book again as soon as you finish it so that you can
undertand it.

2 - a lot about clarinet acoustics

It is an expensive little 90 page book ($20 at Patelson's).

> The problem I have is that I'm not sure what a summary of his note
> would say. I don't know if he agrees with me or disagrees with
> me. It's not clear.

There is a reason a specific sound can be associated with a "brand" of
instruments. But neither Buffet nor Leblanc have a single acoustic design
anymore so one cannot make a "Leblanc sound" or a "Buffet sound" statement
fairly nowadays.

>...SNIP

> But I really have to question the interpretation of that geometrical
> fact, because here we leave the safe world of science and enter
> the distressingly unclear world of opinion and interpretation.
> Jerry quote Lee as suggesting that:

> "The rather confused and varied sound of a Buffet
> may [note MAY!!!, not does] come from the more
> complicated bore."

> Somehow measuring a bore as polycylindrical on one hand (which is
> about as scientific as one can get) and then suggestings that this
> phenomenon produces a "rather confused" sound on the other (which is
> about as opinionated and unscientific as one can get), and suggesting
> that one may be a causative factor to the other leaves me very
> uncertain about what was said here, what might be concluded here,
> or whether or not any truth has arisen as a result of such work.

Your BS detection device is working perfectly. How else to get a heated
discussion going?

> It's hard for me to understand how to measure or even describe something
> as unclear as the phrase "rather confused sound." And when I leave
> the safety of a single clarinet and presume that the assertion applies
> to all clarinets of a single manufacturer (and whose source is not
> known to be polycylindricality by maybe is caused by that), I have
> to admit that I'm on very uncertain territory.

Yup.

> So if Jerry was attempting, by the use of Lee's words, to demonstrate
> how LeBlanc's engineering can be shown to be a direct and causative
> element in the sound produced by a LeBlanc clarinet (and apparently
> confirmed by LeBlanc's marketing department, as if they were an
> objective group of individuals), then I am not sure that he has
> achieved that end.

If manufacturer A uses design A and gets sound A and manufacturer B uses
design B and gets sound B then one assumes the causative element is the
design.

BUT...

Here is the problem, who decides sound A is different from sound B? I don't
have a problem with this arguement as I easily hear the difference in A and
Bb instruments for instance, but this is a subjective judgement until we can
figure out how to measure these differences.

>SNIP...

> But if Jerry, in his note, felt that he had offered a serious
> enough level of precision in showing exactly how LeBlanc
> achieved that end (i.e., through something other than
> polycylindricality), all I can see is a statement of technical
> fact followed by questionable interpretations of that fact
> (or, in reality, a lot of facts).

Some fact some opinion, as you can tell. You should try to get a hold of a
purely cylindrical bore instrument such as the LL's from around 1970 to play
it and see what differences exist in timbre. I say the 70's because the
current marketing literature from Leblanc states that all "professional"
level instruments use polycylindrical bores (Opus, Concerto, Infinity...) and
I am not sure if this is meant to include the LL which used to be a pure
cylinder.

> =======================================
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
> leeson@-----.edu
> =======================================

Jerry Korten
NYC

   
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