Klarinet Archive - Posting 000035.txt from 2003/04

From: Jeremy A Schiffer <schiffer@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Curious
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 11:19:03 -0500

On Wed, 2 Apr 2003, Dan Leeson wrote:

> And we say this over and over because your sound character produced on a
> clarinet does not, all things being equal, come from the clarinet.
> Thus, when you say that the Eaton clarinet produces the richest sound
> you ever got from a clarinet, I am suspicious of what you say, not
> because you are an untruthful person but because it violates logic,
> physics, and common sense.

Dan, are you not willing to concede that _some_ amount of the sound's
quality (and quantity) are affected by the instrument? I play primarily on
a Yamaha 72 Bb, but I also have a 1970's (I think) Evette wood clarinet,
which I use for outdoor playing. I have a little outdoor thing today, so I
pulled out the Evette last night to make sure it was still in working
condition (I repadded it myself, so you never know...).

Using the same mouthpiece, reed and ligature (not to mention mouth, lungs
and lips), I could not get nearly as much sound from the Evette as I could
from the Yamaha. When I played a low G on the Yamaha, I could feel the
floor of my apartment vibrating, yet there was no way I could recreate
this with the Evette, no matter how hard I blew. I switched back and forth
between the two several times, and the Yamaha always shook the floors
while the Evette never did.

Similarly, the Yamaha just had a fuller sound; I'm guessing it has
something to do with increased partials, but I'm not a physicist. If I
was, I'd be happy to sit in front of an oscilloscope, because I'm
confident that there is some measurable difference between the sounds of
these two clarinets.

Would you say this was completely placebo effect? That I knew my Yamaha is
a professional instrument, and that the Evette isn't, and I was somehow
compensating physically, or just hearing things that weren't there? I'm
honestly curious. I understand that the player, the mouthpiece and reed
have _more_ effect on the sound, but it strikes me as odd to say that
the instrument has no (or almost no) effect, as long as it is well
manufactured. If this is true, why do companies still make different
bores?

I'm not going to argue that all Yamahas sound better than all Evettes, but
in the case of these two instruments, ceteris paribus, the Yamaha clearly
has a richer, fuller sound.

Thanks,

-jeremy

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