Klarinet Archive - Posting 000754.txt from 1998/05

From: reedman@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Barrels,
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 02:46:14 -0400

Hello to all.

As most of you know I am heavily into the "technolgy" of barrels. I
have sold over 400 barrels since i started this little project about 10 years
ago. My interests in barrel design came from my frustration in trying to find
a suitable A clarinet barrel. The search has led me down a long and winding
path.

If one considers the upper joint and lower joint of the clarinet as the
generally nonchangeable component, then there are four acoustical components
(other than the room or the player) that affect the timber and intonation.
These are in order of importance: reed , mouthpiece, barrel and bell.

The dimensions, mass and material of the barrel affect the sound and
intonation characteristics of the clarinet. (Mass and material have an affect
on intonation only as related to heat absorption/retention and possibly
analmost insignificant variable of expansion)

I am aware of the long discussion that has taken place on this list in
regards to the affest of materials on sound. I have read Bonade and frankly I
wonder how many barrels he made in his life and if he was a good enough
clarinetist to perceive differences in sound. I have done some experimenting
in front of an oscilliscope (very unscientifically done I admit) and one can
see different patterns rendered by different materials. It may be that, as
Jonathan Cohler pointed out, that the sound difference comes from wall
smoothness as opposed to the actual material. I have noticed a perceivable
(to me) difference of sound from the overall mass of the barrel. This may
again be a difference that is only perceived or felt by the performer, but
the physical input we receive as the clarinet and air column vibrate in our
hands and mouth is important. I have made barrels with identical bore
dimesions and then weighed them on a gram scale. Lighter barrels (less mass)
play differently than heavier barrels. I also found that when I started
adding hard rubber inserts to the barrels I had to leave the outside
dimension a bit larger to achieve the same quality of sound as the solid wood
barrels. Any of you can argue all you want, but do it after you have made
about 100 or so barrels.

The most intriguing aspect of barrel design, though, is the affect that
barrels have on pitch and response. With the right expertise one can match a
barrel to either a clarinet and, more importantly, to a mouthpiece. The
overall pitch of the clarinet is affected by the volume of the
mouthpiece/barrel combination. If a mouthpiece has an overly large bore it
will play flat in the throat tones. This can be compensated at the barrel by
either using a shorter barrel or a barrel with a smaller bore. Of course if
the mouthpiece/barrel combination is too far off from standard parameters,
pitch anomalies will occur in other areas of the instrument.

Clark W Fobes

Clark W Fobes
Web Page http://www.sneezy.org/clark_fobes

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