Klarinet Archive - Posting 000371.txt from 2003/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] another new r-13 question
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 18:22:45 -0500

At 08:44 AM 2/11/2003 -0500, Karl Krelove wrote:
>The G#/C# is a notoriously bad fingering on a Boehm system clarinet - apart
>from the possibility of a vibrating pad cover ("singing pad") already
>mentioned, there is generally a design problem (or, rather, a solution to
>problem) that can cause stuffiness and intonation difficulties with these
>notes. The hole acoustically belongs somewhere within the joint itself - its
>placement on a Boehm clarinet (I don't know about other systems) on the
>upper section is too high, so to compensate, the hole is made smaller to
>bring the pitch down to something close to the correct level. If you make
>the hole an appropriate diameter for a good, clean sound, it will unsuitably
>sharp. If you bring the pitch all the way down to where it *should* be, the
>hole is too small and causes resistance and a stuffy tone. The fuzz, by the
>way, will be more audible in the C# simply because it is farther away in
>pitch than it is from the G#. Then there is the problem of which twelfth
>you really want to be in tune, because the other difficulty, as we all are
>constantly aware, is that the twelfths on a Boehm clarinet are not accurate,
>involving a whole other set of compromises regarding bore, register tube and
>mouthpiece/barrel dimensions.

This is actually one of the main reasons for the articulated C#/G#
mechanism on some clarinets. It restores the tone hole to a more
acoustically correct position, although it requires the tone hole to be
drilled THROUGH the tenon. This can also be accomplished with a one piece
body, a la Rossi. I must admit, the notes sound GOOD on my Selmer BT.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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