Klarinet Archive - Posting 000957.txt from 1998/03

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Subj: Oboe reed for octave shift
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 09:33:15 -0500

>Date: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 16:30:32 -0700
>From: Edinger/Gilman <wde1@-----.com>
>Subject: oboe reed for octave shift
>
>Finally, after keeping my oboe reed from woodwinds class in my case for
>a little over 25 years, Dan Leeson has given me an opportunity to use
>it! Alas, though I tried the suggested experiment using the oboe reed in
>a cork in place of the mouthpiece, even after lots of soaking and gentle
>attention, I couldn't get it to speak at all in the clarinet. I don't
>think enough air could get through. Fortunately, I also kept my basson
>reed from the same class (I was a biology major but needed to become
>familiar with other woodwinds - even received the "guess what woodwind
>I'm playing now?" award at the end of the year). With a little extra
>extension piece, I was able to place it in the same way and lo and
>behold, it's true! It really does make the register key an octave key!
>However, I could only get it to play in the E'-D'-C'-A' range (at the
>low end of the staff). Other notes drifted badly flat or sharp. But my
>tuner confirmed the octave shift, though with terrible intonation
>problems. A new toy to show folks at band rehearsal!
>
>Bill Edinger
>
VERY interesting! I guess I'm not surprised that the oboe reed wouldn't
speak, but I am surprised that the bassoon reed overblows an octave. Does
this mean that a) the bassoon reed does not act like a closed-end tube, b)
that the "new" instrument is not a cylindrical bore, or c) that the theory
that seems to require both a) and b) above to overblow a twelfth is not true?

I guess I would be inclined to b): a bassoon reed is still small compared to
the clarinet bore, and the resulting step could do funny things to the
acoustics, even if the rest of the pipe was cylindrical. Maybe we need to
borrow a contrabassoon reed and try again?