Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2004/02

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] C clarinet intonation, was: Amati clarinets
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 23:53:26 -0500

Walter Grabner wrote:

> Most "C" clarinets are designed/made/bored
> so that a Bb/A mouthpiece WILL work. And
> yes, it IS a compromise.

Joseph Wakeling wrote:

> Perhaps you could explain a bit more about
> this? My understanding is that in terms of
> bore width for clarinets, one can be pretty
> flexible (within reason). So it's not clear to me
> that the bore, per se, should unduly affect the
> intonation of the instrument.

I certainly don't know the answer to your question, Joe, but we
shouldn't lose track of the fact that 'pitch' is usually defined by
separating (via mathematical definitions) a component of the tone ---
namely, the 'fundamental' partial frequency --- from the remainder of
the tone.

In most experiments, people *do* identify a tone's "pitch" as being
equal to its mathematical 'fundamental' frequency --- so long as the
tone's components form a more-or-less harmonic series. (A church bell
does not satisfy this criterion.) Thus the definition makes sense and
is not totally arbitrary.

However, there are musical illusions wherein experienced musicians get
mixed up and give the 'wrong' answer. Some (many?) of us can be fooled
into interpreting a change in timbre as a change in "pitch", and vice
versa.

So what does this prove? Nothing in particular, but I wanted to point
out that 'intonation' is not an absolute or indisputable or
single-variable measurement. For example, your electronic tuner often
will often get 'mixed up' when a novice plays with 'bad' tone or 'bad'
timbre; and yet your experienced ear can probably assign a pitch to the
'bad tone'. Who is correct in such a case.... you or the tuner?

It may be an oversimplification to claim that your perception of an
instrument's intonation is independent of its bore diameter. What may
be happening is that a certain diameter causes your ear/brain/etc to
assign a name more (or less) confidently, yet you choose to say that the
timbre has changed rather than the intonation.

In fact, clarinet intonation has been 'improved' over the centuries
(according to the usual definition of intonation) by purposefully
altering the intrument's diameter at specific locations along its bore
(hence the terms 'restriction', 'polycylndrical', etc).

FWIW......

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