Klarinet Archive - Posting 000358.txt from 1998/01

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Reed Tip Closing
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 1998 18:15:27 -0500

At 11:48 PM 1/6/98 -0500, Jonathan Cohler wrote:
(Bill Hausmann wrote) 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.
>
>That is precisely correct. And that is part of why the clarinet tone gets
>dramatically "brighter" as one gets louder and louder. Without getting
>into the physics of it that cause this, suffice it to say that as one blows
>harder and harder on the clarinet the higher the partial is, the stronger
>it gets relative to the fundamental. Coupled with the fact that the reed
>vibration pattern of hitting the mouthpiece has more high frequency
>components in it and you have indeed a brighter sound as you crescendo.
>
>In fact, if you listen carefully while you make a slow crescendo on a note,
>you can quite easily discern the point at which the reed begins to hit.
>
>If you don't believe that the clarinet sound is getting brigther as you get
>louder, you can verify it for yourself with the following simple experiment.
>
> 1. Record a softly played note.
> 2. Record the same note played quite loudly (but in focus etc...)
> 3. Listen to the two notes played back, but when you play them
> back adjust the level so that the loudness of the two notes
> matches.
>
>You will clearly hear the difference in color with the loudness levels
matched.
>
When I said ***DRAMATIC*** I meant like the difference between a flute and
a trumpet, occurring suddenly at the exact loudness when the reed begins
hitting the mouthpiece tip. No tapes required. Immediate, obvious, night
and day difference.

>> 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!
>
>Also true.
>
But if this is true, how can you get your pianissimo note as you have
described?

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.

   
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