Klarinet Archive - Posting 000320.txt from 2000/08

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Unloading.....
Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 22:48:12 -0400

Mark wrote:
In all seriousness - have you had your hearing checked? I've lost much
of my high hearing - I used to easily hear the 15KHz whine of a TV
flyback transformer. Not anymore ... pianos don't sound as good as they
used to - and the pianos haven't changed. I have ...

Yes, it happens that I have. I'm about 'normal' for someone of my
age, which means that I've lost some of my high hearing, but a
significant amount remains. I've forgotten the numbers, however.

I certainly do not find higher pitches boring or meaningless -- I
enjoy listening to flute & piccolo -- but on clarinet, I just don't find
them as interesting as the lower register. Perhaps the upper registers
require more from a clarinetist than they do from a keyboard or string
player?? ( don't know the first thing about other instruments) And
hence wind instruments with embouchures pose special problems that
require special talent??

While I'm talking about wind instruments, I asked here (several
months ago) about the 'breathy' sound of quena flutes in lower registers
-- as in flute music from the Andes mountains in South America. I
happened to meet a quena player today who explained that the 'breathy'
sound has two causes:

(1) The mouthpiece hole (not the instrument's bore) in these flutes can
be 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" in diameter, and the huge amount of air rushing over
a large hole -- as is required to play these instruments -- accounts for
the 'breathy' sound.

(2) When recording these instruments, the mic is usually set relatively
close and this magnifies the effect (which I find pleasing). If you
hear these instruments live, they don't have nearly as much of the
'breathiness.'

Cheers,
Bill

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