Klarinet Archive - Posting 000800.txt from 1998/02

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: THE SAXOPHONE
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 1998 12:49:42 -0500

THE SAXOPHONE ( by Philip Bate, the Grove Dictionary)

HISTORY
The experiments which led ultimately to the fully practical saxophone
were undertaken by Adolphe Sax in the years 1840 and 1841 while he was
still associated with his father's instrument business in Brussels.
In 1842 , the young Sax moved to Paris, where he continued his work, and
in 1845 brought it to completion.
At the present time we have no sure information as to the original
purpose which Sax had in mind, and several theories have been put
forward.
It has been suggested that the instrument was arrived at, more or less
fortuitously, in the pursuit of the ever recurring dream, the clarinet
that will overblow at the octave.
More probable however, is the suggestion that Sax set out deliberately
to design an instrument that would furnish the military band with a good
tonal link between the clarinets and the tenor brasses.
The actual association of a single reed with a conical tube cannot be
regarded as original to Sax, as many of his detractors pointed out.

The arrangement of single reed with a conical bore was used by the
Scotsman William Meikle, about 1830, in his "Alto Fagotto", of which a
number of examples survive.

An even earlier instrument made about 1807 is often cited in textbooks
as the source of Sax's inspiration. This rather crude instrument, now
No.1136 in the Paris Conservatoire collection, is however something of a
mystery. It is, at least in the main, of conical bore and has a clarinet
type mouthpiece, but when tested some years ago, it proved to overblow
in twelfths and must therefore be regarded as a clarinet in spite of
some contrary opinions.
The path by which Sax arrived at the final form of his instrument has
been the subject of quite as much speculation as his object in creating
it.
He was a man of brilliant and inquiring mind and was certainly aware of
the acoustic behaviors of the various possible combinations of single
and double reeds with conical and cylindrical tubes.
If he was indeed concerned to produce an octave speaking clarinet he
would adopted a conical body, and in its proportions he would have had
some freedom of choice.
It seems quite probable, however, that he conceived his instrument as
something in the nature of an ophicleide furnished with a single reed
mouthpiece.
Sax's patent drawings certainly support this view, and the writer has
made experiments with an ophicleide and different clarinet mouthpieces,
which have proved the combination to be a promising one.
The Saxophone, (Philip Bate, theGrove dictionary)

History.
The experiments which led ultimately to the fully practical saxophone
were undertaken by Adolphe Sax in the years 1840 and 1841 while he was
still associated with his father's instrument business in Brussels.
In 1842 , the young Sax moved to Paris, where he continued his work, and
in 1845 brought it to completion.
At the present time we have no sure information as to the original
purpose which Sax had in mind, and several theories have been put
forward.
It has been suggested that the instrument was arrived at, more or less
fortuitously, in the pursuit of the ever recurring dream, the clarinet
that will overblow at the octave.
More probable however, is the suggestion that Sax set out deliberately
to design an instrument that would furnish the military band with a good
tonal link between the clarinets and the tenor brasses.
The actual association of a single reed with a conical tube cannot be
regarded as original to Sax, as many of his detractors pointed out.

The arrangement of single reed with a conical bore was used by the
Scotsman William Meikle, about 1830, in his "Alto Fagotto", of which a
number of examples survive.

An even earlier instrument made about 1807 is often cited in textbooks
as the source of Sax's inspiration. This rather crude instrument, now
No.1136 in the Paris Conservatoire collection, is however something of a
mystery. It is, at least in the main, of conical bore and has a clarinet
type mouthpiece, but when tested some years ago, it proved to overblow
in twelfths and must therefore be regarded as a clarinet in spite of
some contrary opinions.
The path by which Sax arrived at the final form of his instrument has
been the subject of quite as much speculation as his objective in
creating it.
He was a man of brilliant and inquiring mind and was certainly aware of
the acoustic behaviors of the various possible combinations of single
and double reeds with conical and cylindrical tubes.
If he was indeed concerned to produce an octave speaking clarinet he
would adopted a conical body, and in its proportions he would have had
some freedom of choice.
It seems quite probable, however, that he conceived his instrument as
something in the nature of an ophicleide furnished with a single reed
mouthpiece.
Sax's patent drawings certainly support this view, and the writer has
made experiments with an ophicleide and different clarinet mouthpieces,
which have proved the combination to be a promising one.

CLARINET MOUTHPIECE TONE ENHANCERS
http://www.sneezy.org/avrahm_galper/index.html