Klarinet Archive - Posting 000889.txt from 2003/03

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: [kl] Cylinders vs. Cones (was: Introduction)
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 20:04:08 -0500

Benade, "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics", pg 490 (paperback edition):

A favorite lecture demonstration of mine, the purpose of which is to
display the varying behavior of an air column when it is coupled first
to one and then to the other of the two types of air controller, makes
use of a special flute head joint to fit on a clarinet as a replacement
for its normal mouthpiece and barrel joint. When the instrument is
played with this special head joint in place, the listeners are
astonished to hear the characteristic sounds of a flute. [Benade
describes how this shifts the low-register 'clarinet' fingerings upwards
an octave, and also how the instrument can overblow either an octave or
a twelfth depending on how you arrange everything.]

The acoustical implications of using a single cylindrical air column to
produce both flute and clarinet sounds can be clarified if [...a bunch
of math...]

==========

I found a description (Benade, "Horns, Strings, and Harmony", pg 200 in
paperback) of a commercially manufactured 'miniature' clarinet
mouthpiece which allows a clarinet player to double on oboe without
using a double reed, but while still producing a 'NORMAL' oboe sound.

I could not find anything about the opposite --- namely, putting an oboe
reed onto a clarinet --- but I didn't do an exhaustive search.

Cheers,
Bill

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