Klarinet Archive - Posting 000721.txt from 1997/11

From: "Jerry Korten" <jerryk@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Clarinet material
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 11:18:15 -0500

>Bill E. Writes -

>At the risk of making poor Jerry Korten feel as if he's being dumped on,
>I would like to point out (regarding the "clarinet material makes a
>difference" thread) a critical, determinative, and OBVIOUS point: by
>simply adding Play-Doh to the outside of the bell, the material of the
>clarinet was not changed at all. The vibrations were simply dampened by
>an added weight. If you had put a lead "doughnut" around the bell of
>the same weight as the play-doh, would you have said the material the
>clarinet was made of was now different? How about if someone wrapped
>their hands around it while it was played? I haven't done any empirical
>testing along these lines, buy my conjecture is that the effect would be
>very similar to that of the Play-Doh. However, it is a FACT that the
>material the clarinet was made of WAS NOT ANY DIFFERENT THAN WITHOUT THE
>ADDED WEIGHT ON THE BELL. If you're going to make a claim about
>construction materials being different, then by golly use different
>materials, don't hang ornaments on them and say they're of a different
>composition.
>Bill E.
You're absolutely right, the material did not change. But the way the
material could behave was changed. If the way the material behaves changes
the sound, then the sound is influenced by the material.

The next step would be to construct bells of exactly identical dimensions
but of different materials and study the effect on sound of these
materials.

Jerry Korten
NYC