Klarinet Archive - Posting 000710.txt from 2000/08

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Wood and other materials
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 15:36:16 -0400

I thank Francois Kloc for his response. I am not trying to prevent
opinions from being offered, but there have been so many given on this
subject that I was simply hoping for something more authoritative from
the representative of such an important clarinet manufacturer.

But just to show there are no hard feelings, should we meet in Paris, I
will buy the choucroute! If we meet in Strasbourg, he can buy the tarte
a l'ognion. And now to business.

Exactly what constitutes something authoritative? Consider, for
example, the opening paragraph of Coltman's paper, "Effect of Material
on Flute Tone Quality," a scholarly contribution on the subject that
dates from 1971.

"The role that the wall material plays in determining the tone quality
of wind instruments has long been a subject of argument. Laboratory
measurements of sustained tones in artificially blown instruments
generally show no evidence that the wall material has an appreciable
effect. In spite of these experiments, instrument makers, players, and
listeners continue to insist that the nature of the wall material does
have an effect on the instrument's sound. Metal clarinets are
considered suitable only for use in school bands. The silver flute is
the accepted standard in most countries today, though symphony players
insist on retaining wood for piccolos."

So no matter how many times this subject comes up on this list, and it
comes up frequently attesting to just how focused so many of us are on
this question, most players, like M. Kloc are satisfied with their
feelings on how a wooden clarinet sounds to them. In effect, all
evidence is irrelevant to how one feels about the matter.

While one cannot ignore the intuitive feelings of qualified players, we
have a serious problem here. In the face of the presence of serious
evidence that suggests that the material of a wind instrument is
irrelevant to the character of sound that comes out of it, we still have
important and thoughtful people saying, "but I think that it doesn't."

The entire discussion is taking on the character of the flat earth
society; that is, there are people who keep saying, "But I think it's
flat," this despite all evidence to the contrary.

The very person who started this round of the discussion, asked a
question about plastic instruments as if the very suggestion that
plastic might be a suitable substitute for wood was an idea so insane
that he could not even think about such an alternative.

In effect, the world of clarinetdom perpetuates technical nonsense on
this subject and the best efforts of thoughtful people are unable to
make a serious impact on changing that idea around.

It's discouraging.
--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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