Klarinet Archive - Posting 000309.txt from 1998/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Reed Tip Closing
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 18:35:52 -0500

At 08:43 AM 1/6/98 -0500, Jonathan Cohler wrote:
>When the reed vibrates on a clarinet played at a pianissimo dynamic (i.e.
>very softly) the tip does not hit the mouthpiece at all. As one raises the
>dynamic level up toward mezzo forte it begins to hit the mouthpiece. As
>one continues to the loudest possible dynamic, it hits the mouthpiece to
>where the airstream is actually closed off for roughly half the cycle.
>
>This is in fact why clarinet sound is much more sinusoidal at very low
>dynamics and adds more and more high frequency content as one gets louder.
>The hitting of the reed tip against the mouthpiece has the effect of
>"chopping off" the sine wave and these sharp changes in the driving wave
>form excite many high frequency components in the sound.
>
>So to summarize two key points over which there seemed to be substantial
>confusion:
>
> 1. The reed does indeed hit the mouthpiece at "mf" and above dynamics.
>
> 2. The reed does NOT hit the mouthpiece at soft dynamics.
>
Now I am thoroughly confused! It does not seen possible for the very
method of tone production (from reed flapping in the breeze to functioning
as an air valve) to change that dramatically without a subsequent
***DRAMATIC*** change in the tonal quality. I'll bet that with a
sufficiently open mouthpiece and a sufficiently stiff reed that will NOT
close the mouthpiece, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to obtain a tone at all! Let
the experiments begin!

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.