Klarinet Archive - Posting 000932.txt from 2003/03

From: Elgenubi@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Cylinders vs. Cones: The Clarisoon
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2003 15:30:07 -0500

The Experiment - A bassoon reed on a clarinet
Understand that even though I'm trying to be sort of scientific, this is
generally done for fun. Also, if I've made any basic music theory mistakes,
please correct me, but consider the basic observations still sound.
Setup: A bassoon reed with the wrapped portion imbedded in a wine bottle cork
(split down the middle and gouged out to receive the fat reed), the whole
sealed with bits of rubber washer and paper and inserted in the socket of my
barrel so that the butt of the reed is even with the bottom of the socket.
The end of the reed is thus about 1.2 inches shorter than the end of a
clarinet mouthpiece. I can swap the barrel with another similar barrel with
my normal setup for side by side comparison. I determined the results by
comparing to a piano, thus all my data is Concert pitch. I've only studied
the longest possible tube so far; all data is for the clarinet low note and
its overtones.
Data: The normal clarinet low note is D3 and with a register key it overblows
to A4. Of course! The G#4 and A4 throat keys are pretty good register keys
also, being better located about 1/3 of the way down the tube, also of
course. I can overblow at the octave, very weakly, by opening the two right
hand side keys (the F#4 keys). I can even overblow (if that is the right
word) a fifth higher than the fundamental by opening the left little finger
C#4 key. Nothing I can do will make the 4th harmonic, E5, sound. Register
key and lifting right hand index finger sounds F5, a flat 5th harmonic.
The clarinet with bassoon reed low note is an unstable D or D#4, already an
octave higher that the clarinet. It is a buzzy, horrible bassoon sound. It
overblows rather easily to a fifth higher, A#4. The clarinet register key
makes this quite stable. This is a nicer sound, not unlike a high bassoon.
It then overblows to the octave, D#5, and this note is equally easy with or
without the register key. It is also a nice sound. More embouchure and it
overblows to F or F#5. This is stable but it slides around a lot with reed
pressure. And finally, it overblows to about A#5. That's all this reed and
embouchure will do.
Conclusion: This supports the dilemma Dan Leeson has pointed out. If you
line up the harmonics of the two systems side by side (disregarding the minor
difference in length), some but not all of the same notes are there. There
is seems no possibility of sounding the low D3 with the bassoon reed. The D4
is insipid on the clarinet, and unstable and ugly on the bassoon reed. The
12th, the 3rd harmonic, A4, is nice on both of them. (Question: is it
significant that the bassoon reed sounds the 3rd harmonic so well? Can an
oboe be made to sound a the equavalent, the note a fifth higher than it's low
note?) The 4th harmonic, D(#)5, is nice with the bassoon reed, and
nonexistent on the clarinet. The 5th harmonic, F(#)5, is there on both. So,
it seems that the double reed likes even harmonics more than the clarinet
mouthpiece does.
My next thought is that I have to get an intuitive grasp on the difference
between conical and cylindrical bores. Why does the math make them
different? Then maybe I can understand why this little reed seems to turn
the cylindrical bore of a clarinet into a cone.
What do you all think?

Wayne Thompson

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