Klarinet Archive - Posting 001072.txt from 1998/03

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Another peculiar acoustical phenomenon
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 09:36:12 -0500

Following Dan Leeson's comment that he had heard that a clarinet fitted with
an oboe reed would overblow an octave, Bill Edinger's report that he had
tried it and it did, and my comment that maybe it was due to the small size
of the oboe reed, I got together yesterday with Michael Dicker, the
bassoonist here at ISU. I took a rubber stopper which fit into the bore of
the barrel of an old clarinet (not into the tennon socket, but farther in)
and drilled a hole in it to fit the outside windings on a contrabass bassoon
reed. Then Michael tried it (I've never blown a double reed im my life!).
It sounded AWFULL, but the register key indeed shifts the fundamental sound
by (about) an octave. Removing the barrel and placing the reed at the top
of the LH joint did not change things - still an octave.

Note, however, that the bore of a contrabassoon reed is maybe 3 mm, while
the clarinet is some 14 mm, and there is still a big discontinuity. Maybe
we need to do the experiment the other way around - get one of Leeson's
"single reed for oboe" mouthpieces and try it on a clarinet. Or perhaps one
cound try an Eb mouthpiece wound with paper or something to fit into a Bb
barrel. This would give the discontinuity in bore sizes while preserving
the single reed. THEN see what happens.

Any takers on this experiment?

George Kidder
gkidder@-----.edu