Klarinet Archive - Posting 001408.txt from 2000/06

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] ligatures
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 20:11:21 -0400

On Fri, 30 Jun 2000 19:06:08 -0500 (CDT), el2@-----.edu said:

> On Sat, 01 Jul 2000 01:21:17 +0200, a.bergamin@-----.it said:
>
> > If you are looking for a ligature you should consider two things
>
> > 1. The ligature should have a minimal impact on reed and mouthpiece:
> > few contact points, the reed should vibrate free but needs to be
> > fixed to the mouthpiece.
>
> I have no scientific experimentation to confirm this, but logic tells
> me that the back of the reed, the part that is in contact with the
> mouthpiece, will *not* vibrate, or at least that any vibration from
> that part of the reed will be negligible. Much of the back of the
> reed will be in contact with the table of the mouthpiece, and at least
> some of it will also be contacted by the ligature, no matter what kind
> of ligature it might be. Also, the thickness of the back of the reed
> will tend to further attenuate any vibrations.
>
> It's perhaps a comforting thought to imagine all those long fibers,
> running through the entire length of the reed, and vibrating wildly,
> thereby contributing to the beautiful sound of the clarinet. I should
> rather think that the contribution of vibrations from various parts of
> the reed would be more likely to be approximately inversely
> proportional to the thickness of the reed at each given point.

Well, I have no idea whether any of this is true. I imagine that the
vibration of the mouthpiece also comes into it -- even if it doesn't
broadcast those vibrations, they interact with the vibrations of the
reed.

Different ligatures do make different sounds, and for a given reed there
may be an optimum ligature, or an optimum sort of ligature. What I
doubt is that there is an optimum ligature that makes all reeds better.

In fact, I deny it! So that IMO pronouncements about what 'the best'
ligature is like are just so much moonshine.

You can sell moonshine, don't y'know?

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... Excuse me, I have to recharge my flamethrower.

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