Klarinet Archive - Posting 000114.txt from 1999/12

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] cylinders & cones
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 20:38:48 -0500

--- "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.com> wrote:

> The clarinet bell gives a deceptive impression of the clarinet
> shape. If it were conical in shape, you would no longer have a
> clarinet but a saxophone.

Well, I'm not so naive as to consider the bell in my
observation of the clarinet's bore when discussing the
cone vs. cylinder issue. Your qualification for what
qualifies acoustically as a clarinet is:

> Cylindrical pipe, closed at one end, single beating reed

You follow it a little later with:

> Basically you ignore the bell and look at the percent flare of
> the body.

Given this statement, I'm looking for an admission that the
conditions under which an instrument is considered cylindrical
vs. conical do not adhere to the literal definitions of these
geometric shapes. I've not studied clarinet acoustics to any
degree, so this is all curiosity. Definitionally, does a cyl-
inder not retain the same diameter across its entire length
(I'll confine this definition to circular cylinders)? If this
is true, then I assume that some authoritative body decided at
some point in time to instate an arbitrary standard of flare
percentage to a "cyliner", such that it need not adhere per-
fectly to the defined properties of a cylinder, but could
still be referred to as one. Is that right? If not, then
what event or concept explains the classification of a clar-
inet as a cylinder when, the bell notwithstanding, it clearly
is not? Equally as important, is there a codified number to
indicate the exact flare percentage, past which a pipe 'gradu-
ates' (pun intended) from a "cylinder" to a "cone"?

I'm sure this exact subject has come up a few times in the
past, but perhaps not in the simplistic terms in which I'm
framing my questions. I hope it doesn't blow up into some
esoteric flame war, as has happened with previous issues of
an accoustical nature. Please confine responses to the rel-
atively low level of sophistication in which I've stated my
questions.

-- Neil
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