Klarinet Archive - Posting 000573.txt from 1997/11

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Playdough and the clarinet's materials
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 15:59:58 -0500

I am missing something with this story and I'm not quite sure
what it is.

Let me repeat what I think was said to make sure we are starting
off on a uniform base.

You took a wooden clarinet and put playdough on the base somewhere.
It sounded differently with the playdough on the bell and, as a
result of this observation, you have concluded that the material
of the clarinet is responsible for or heavily influences the
kind of sound you get from your clarinet. Is that is? Did I
misunderstand something? I'm not trying to be difficult, just
trying to understand what the hypothesis is and how you arrived
at it.

I realize that your choice of putting playdough on the bell was
not arbitrary and that you placed it carefully so as to
exercise your theory based on the changeover of geometry. But
the issue is your conclusion. Because there was a sound
difference that you and others observed, you state that the
sound difference, though caused by the playdough, is demonstrative
of the assertion that the medium of the clarinet influences its
sound. Is that basically it?

I was wondering if you had 5 clarinets, one wood, one bamboo, one
glass, one plastic, and one metal. And you did this experiment
on all 5 and you then heard differences of a similar nature
no matter which clarinet was playdoughed.

What would this establish?

It seems to me that it would establish exactly the opposite of
what you have said, namely that no matter what the medium of
the instrument, putting playdough on the bell affects all the
instruments in the same way. Therefore, the medium can have
no influence on the sound.

Of course, this was not your experiment and it's very iffy, but
why didn't you repeat the expermiment changing to clarinets
of differing material?

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