Klarinet Archive - Posting 000402.txt from 2003/04

From: b1rite@-----. Rite)
Subj: Re: [kl] Fun & games with "barrel blank"
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:35:38 -0400

....I ran out of steam last night. =A0 I wanted to mention one other
surprise (to me, at least):

My primary reason for experimenting with barrel shapes is that my
spherical bell gives me the sound that I want for the low notes --- the
notes that are formed in the bell --- but this sound disappears as I
move up the scale.

My thought was that if I experiment with the barrel also, then as the
air column becomes shorter for the higher notes, the barrel becomes a
larger percentage of the air column and it ought to influence the sound
_more_ as I move up the scale, not less.

Presumably, Doug Sear's spreadsheet reinforces this concept. =A0 It
predicts that at the top, notes will be 100 cents wrong, whereas at the
bottom they will be only 50 cents wrong.

However, my measurements last night show that the errors are
approximately symmetric, 50 cents wrong at either end.

Also, without attempting to define tonal metaphors, my ear tells me that
the sound character with my 'barrel blank' changes _more_ (not less) for
the low notes than it does for the high notes. =A0 As with the bell, the
'sound character effect' disappears somewhere around A-above-the-staff.
At the bottom, my 'blank tone' is fuzzy, foggy, dirty, buzzy --- chose
your favorite metaphor. But at clarion B and C and higher, the tone
has mostly cleaned up and returned to what you'd expect from a normal
clarinet.

As you move up the scale, and the lower harmonics disappear, a lesser
variety of harmonics is available for controlling sound character. =A0 I
suppose this is the explanation. =A0 But it disappoints me because I am
doing this for a particular reason, not just to be 'different', and my
basic premise may have overlooked a basic issue --- namely, there's less
to be accomplished up high than down low.

Cheers,
=A0=A0=A0=A0Bill

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