Klarinet Archive - Posting 000404.txt from 2001/05

From: Shouryunus Sarcasticii <jnohe@-----.Edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet History
Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 20:53:43 -0400

On Tue, 15 May 2001, Tim Roberts wrote:

> Why was the clarinet developed so late, relatively speaking? The early
> clarinet lags behind the early oboe by several hundred years. I find this
> surprising. The clarinet seems like a natural derivative from the old
> recorder, much more natural a double reed arrangement.
>
> I presume there have been innumerable masters theses on this topic. Anyone
> have any pet theories?

My guess is simply that it was not emulated in nature...the flute is
easily emulated in nature, open reed tubes with wind blowing over them
create sound, and so a way was sought to reproduce this phenomenon. How
the double reed came about, I do not know (I can't think of anything in
nature offhand that emulates a double reed, but I probably will sometime
on the plane to DC tomorrow). If it isn't emulated somewhere in nature,
then it came about as accidentally as the clarinet is theorized to have
appeared, and having not studied the origin and history of the oboe, I
wouldn't know.

The clarinet, on the other hand...its origin makes plenty of sense (I
don't know about timewise, but mechanically it makes sense). Denner
family, blah blah blah, makes duck calls, blah blah blah, makes recorders,
blah blah blah, goofing around in the shop, blah blah blah, gee, that
sounds different.

Taa daa. Quite comparable to Eddie Izzard's historical detailing of Dr.
Heimlich's manuever. "A hand! A fist! Hocha hocha hocha...lobster!"

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SarCaSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"Never put passion before principle. Even when win, you lose."
-Miyagi-san, KKpt.II

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