Klarinet Archive - Posting 001074.txt from 1998/03

From: "Scott Morrow" <sdm@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Another peculiar acoustical phenomenon
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 10:10:52 -0500

Perhaps the difference can be explained by the structure of the clarinet
mouthpiece (Experts! Help me out!) It would seem to me that stoppering the
end of the clarinet and sticking in a double reed would truly make the
system a "pipe closed at one end". A double reed (it seems to me) would
simply initiate the tone, whereas the structure of a double-reed mouthpiece
might act as a "sound-molding chamber" itself (I reserve all rights to any
mouldy reed jokes derived from this explanation!)? I forget: did a single
reed mouthpiece on a flute or oboe also overblow an octave?
-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
DNA Synthesis Core Facility
Department of Biochemistry
The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
Baltimore, MD 21205
(410) 955-3631
-----Original Message-----
From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.edu>
Cc: mhdicke@-----.edu>
Date: Friday, March 20, 1998 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: Another peculiar acoustical phenomenon

>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
>