Klarinet Archive - Posting 000194.txt from 1998/08

From: "Cox, Graeme" <Graeme.Cox@-----.nz>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinet dislikes hot summer?
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 20:34:30 -0400

Thanks for the meteorological tips! Is it true that in high humidity
there isn't as much oxygen in the air we breathe? Is that why it's hard
to do anything other than rest in the shade and drink cold beer?

Last summer in Christchurch was unusually hot and dry, during which my
1950 Selmer BT suffered - all the metal rings (including the big one on
the bell) became loose and needed to be glued back in position. Mostly,
I left my more expensive instruments unplayed in their cases and they
survived unscathed. I guess that in the sort of weather we had for so
long, the metal expanded and the wood shrunk.

Cheers,
Graeme Cox
Christchurch City Council PO Box 237 Christchurch, New Zealand
+64 3 3711531 Fax 64 3 3711989, 163 Tuam St, Christchurch
mobile 025 2291765
Graeme.Cox@-----.nz

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arnold Teres [SMTP:johnathant@-----.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 1998 11:00 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Clarinet dislikes hot summer?
>
> My Selmer CenterTone also "dislikes" hot and humid environments. I too
> find
> the far altisimo nearly impossible on such days but the same reed
> indoors in
> air conditioning does well. Of course, the entire insturment is
> indoors and
> I don't mean that the reed is at fault - just that the same setup
> seems to
> respond to humidity. A quick glance at a periodic table shows that one
> mole
> of air has a mass of about 28.6g while one mole of water has a mass of
> about
> 18g. This calculation is based on air being 21 % diatomic oxygen and
> 78%
> diatomic nitrogen - the rest is carbon dioxide and other gases - not
> enough
> to make a big difference. This means that the more humid air becomes
> the
> "lighter" (read less dense) air becomes. I don't know if 90% humidity
> on a
> hot day "lightens" air enough to matter to a clarinet. Does anyone
> have some
> information on the effects of air density on clarinets?
>
>
>
>
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