Klarinet Archive - Posting 000559.txt from 1997/11

From: SEAN TALBOT <talbotse12@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: Clarinet Material Makes a difference - proof enclosed.
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 09:41:48 -0500

>Now will someone please explain the change in resistance felt while doing
>this experiment??

I'm just going to take a stab at this, no idea if it is correct. It seems
that when you push air through the instrament, you are working to vibrate
the entier instrament-----air, wood, posts, keys----in a complex but stable
mannor. When you added the playdough, this made it more difficult to
set the instrament in motion. It is comparable to adding more stain to
a violin. You add stain and it changes how the air inside the box vibrates
oddly enough. Take the lacquer off the sax and it changes the playing
characteristics. It seems that if the wood doesn't vibrate as easily, the
air doesn't vibrate as easily, and if the air doesn't vibrate as eaily you are
going to have to put more energy into the system to make it vibrate causeing
more resistance.

At least that is what I learned in my Physics of Sound and Music class here
on campus when we discusses the reflection/refraction characteristics of a
closed end cylindrical tube which is what the clarinet is.

Sean Talbot
University of Wisconsin - Whitewater