Klarinet Archive - Posting 000355.txt from 2000/08

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Big 'mouth' cavity
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 21:55:47 -0400

On Mon, 14 Aug 2000 18:25:10 -0700 (PDT), Bilwright@-----.net said:

> Tony Pay wrote:
>
> > though an old one of mine called, "Hippopotami blowing clarinets"
> > might be relevant:
> >
> > http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1998/12/000764.txt
>
>
> The opposite side of the coin, of course, is: With a large cavity,
> would Klezmer clarinetists lose their ability to squeak and wail, and
> would all the other variations of tone disappear that musicians desire
> sometimes?

Yup:

> > Anyhow, look at it the other way round. Is it possible that we find
> > playing the clarinet difficult to start with because our mouths are
> > *too small*, so we need to have the cavity match the note in some
> > sense, whereas a hippopotamus wouldn't, because the reed is
> > completely dominated by the clarinet? In other words, is it
> > possible that to learn to play well is to learn
> > not_to_interfere_too_much with the clarinet's behaviour, and that
> > the very subtle ways you can then modify the sound of the instrument
> > are a sort of second order modulation of this necessary
> > 'non-interference'?
> >
> > Of course, however they are achieved, these modulations are
> > essential to really good playing, just as patterning of resonance is
> > essential for speech.
> >
> > So if what I've said is right, it would seem to argue against the
> > possibility of true hippopotami virtuosi on the clarinet. The
> > effect of changes of mouth cavity on the reed would be really
> > negligible, because the walls are so far away. So what is an
> > initial lack of difficulty for the hippopotamus ultimately is a
> > limitation. Instability implies the possibility of precise control,
> > stability implies the lack of it.

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

... When I grow up I want to be a message.

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