Klarinet Archive - Posting 000857.txt from 2002/10

From: "Keith" <100012.1302@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] It gets less important as you go down
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:45:13 -0500

Bill,

You make many good points of course, and I doubt that anyone here would
dispute that you have to start the sound off correctly. But the
assertion that things "decrease in importance as you go further down the
instrument" is simply that - an assertion. You retreated from this
yourself in discussing the role of the barrel, and as Tony has pointed
out, a hairline crack in the instrument, or a leaky pad, will easily
dominate over a superb mouthpiece, reed and ligature.

I think that the scientific problem with your arguments, especially the
statement below, is that, technically, the clarinet is not a "lumped
system" in control engineering terms. Regression analysis is of the most
use when variables, though they may be many, each have a distinct
influence and the cross-coupling terms are weak. Your cholesterol
example is a good one. The analysis may, of course, show up
cross-couplings, eg "high cholesterol is not so harmful if your diet is
rich in Armenian blue parsnips", but if these exist, then one absolutely
cannot have a description that is appropriate to a lumped system
(decreasing in importance as you go down etc). The cross couplings are
huge, as simple experiments show: leaks, cracks, resonance fingerings,
fork fingerings, sloppy fingerings, bits of lead stuck on the outside
(see Benade) etc etc. Thus the sound column does not already exist at
the top of the instrument, but is the product of everything. The whole
vibrating air column depends on a lot of things and they are closely
coupled. I think this is good science, not sophistry. And this is not to
deny that _sometimes_ the assertion works, for example a leak on the
bottom pad will only affect the lowest notes in each register.

But did I note that you're in Boulder? Perhaps we should discuss this
over beer sometime before I leave Denver at the end of the year to go
back to the UK!

Keith Bowen

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 21:03:02 -0700
From: "WILLIAM SEMPLE" <wsemple@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] This thing on my front door
Message-ID: <OE151MI3vM7AUfFs3yB0001dde8@-----.com>

<snip>

It makes logical sense to me that the quality of the sound introduced
into the top joint of an instrument cannot be improved with regard to
its inherent characteristics, and that what the instrument itself does
is to realize the full potential of a sound column that ALREADY EXISTS.
-------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------