Klarinet Archive - Posting 000114.txt from 1998/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: swabbing really does wear it out (retransmitted)
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 23:41:35 -0500

At 04:32 PM 1/3/98 -0700, Bill Edinger wrote:
>Re the suggestion that the reed is "slamming against" the tip and rails
>of the mouthpiece, so to speak: this is definitely an incorrect
>description of what happens when you play. If the reed were vibrating
>against the tip and rails, there would be no sound coming through, would
>there? The reed vibrates in the air as the air passes through the mouth
>and the mouthpiece; TONGUING closes the reed against the mouthpiece,
>very briefly.

If you will allow me that the mechanism of saxophone and clarinet tone
production is essentially the same, I will quote from "The Art of Saxophone
Playing" by Larry Teal:

"The principle task of the reed is its function as an air valve which opens
and closes on the mouthpiece at various speeds. The rate of speed, or
frequency, of the operation controls the pitch of the tone and is governed
by the size and shape ot the body of air it must set in motion...

"In April, 1941, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America published
an article by two physicists, C. S. McGinnis and C. Gallagher, who had
succeeded in photographing the time and motion of a single reed while in
the process of tone production. The results of this experiment showed the
reed functioning as a valve which emits "puffs" of air into the instrument,
and also forms an air tight seal during half of the time of each vibrating
cycle. To quote from this article:

"The motion of the reed during the cycle is of interest. Consider the
chink is just on the point of closing. With the aperature closed, the reed
appears motionless to the eye for about half of the time of the complete
cycle. It then leaves the mouthpiece with relatively high velocity and
reaches its position of maximum displacement in a series of short spurts.
The time spent motionless at maximum displacement is roughly a quarter of
the fundamental period. The tip of the reed now returns to the mouthpiece
in a series of short spurts, and the fundamental cycle is complete. Thus,
the actual motion of the reed occupies only about a quarter of the period."

Just some "gee-whiz" info to back up my theory.

Neil and Roger get my vote: just as you can polish a
>bore or a mouthpiece or a razor, for that matter (and steel is a lot
>harder than rubber), you can indeed eventually wear down the rail edges
>and the tip. I know, I'm guilty of it. The frequency of swabbing, the
>type of cloth (think of a razor strop of a lens-polishing cloth), and
>the tightness of fit would all be factors varying the effect, but the
>effect is, in my opinion, indisputable. So there :).

A razor strop is designed to be abrasive. It is SUPPOSED to remove
material. But it still takes many strokes to do the job. I would not swab
out my mouthpiece with sandpaper. I use silk (no sense taking fool
chances). I guess I'll need to practice more to see the wear.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.