Klarinet Archive - Posting 001111.txt from 1998/12

From: "John Gates" <cadenza@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Sharpness after inhaling
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 13:38:32 -0500

Very interesting. I've always noticed that a long tone, near the end of the
note tends to have fuller and darker quality.

I've also noticed that when I tongue a note it will tend to be sharper in
pitch at the very beginning, especially in the clarion register. It drops
to the correct pitch in about a tenth of a second. If I'm very careful this
won't happen. Do you think this has anything to do with the air
composition? I always thought it had to do with the shape of the mouth.

Best, John Gates
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin Pergler <pergler@-----.edu>
Date: Tuesday, December 29, 1998 9:09 AM
Subject: [kl] Sharpness after inhaling

>
>Friends,
>
>we had considerable discussion on this phenomenon (playing sharp
>right after taking a breath) about a month ago. At one point,
>I promised to estimate the magnitude of the effect theoretically.
>I finally got around to it, and as best as I can tell, the
>theoretical answer is "somewhat less than 20 cents".
>Those interested can see the 3-page calculation on my
>web page---undergrad-level calculus, physics, chemistry, and
>phisiology alert.
>
>The Url is
>http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~pergler/breatpit.dvi for those
> who can read DVI files (from the scientific typesetting package
> TeX); or
>http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~pergler/breatpit/ for an
> approximate HTMLized version, with some formulas slightly
> mangled, since displaying math on the web is a known bugbear.
>
>Comments appreciated. It turns out not only density of
>exhaled air, but also its compressibility, are significant.
>The imprecision in my answer "somewhat less than..." is due to
>things I don't know about air exchange inside the clarinet. If
>all air in the vibrating column was immediately 100% exhaled air,
>my answer would just be "22 cents".
>
>Martin
>
>--
>Martin Pergler pergler@-----.edu
>Grad student, Mathematics http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~pergler
>Univ. of Chicago
>
>
>
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>

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