Klarinet Archive - Posting 000678.txt from 2004/07

From: Gary Truesdail <gir@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Character of sound based on medium
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 02:24:57 -0400

Not completely true. The air column is set in motion by a vibrating reed
which is somewhat firmly attached to the mouthpiece.

Last time I looked my reed was in firm contact with the mouthpiece so
there must be some energy transferrence going on that may have an
effect, desirable or undesirable on the tone produced by a
mtpc/reed/ligature combination.

You can test this theory by asking any beginner, especially sax players,
if they can feel any vibration from the mouthpiece to their top teeth.
You can also place your hand on any large instrument while it is playing
and feel the vibrations of the insturment body itself. It does vibrate,
and different materials vibrate differently. Ever notice how a pro
feels lot different than a student model and I don't mean key
placement. One of the big differences, among others, is the
weight/density of the material it is made of. I say that goes for
clarinets too.

I will state that the energy transferred from the mouthpiece to the body
is almost nonexistent due to the tenon cork but some is transferred out
of the air column to the body as the pressure waves tend to expand in an
arc, a portion of which hits the inside walls. Remember, when an object
is motion meets an object at rest........

I'm not trying to be picky here, but the 'negligible' amount we are
speaking is akin to the 'negligible' amount of differences in mouthpiece
dimentions. Little things can make a big difference.

GaryT

Mark Charette wrote:

Those three things make their sound by vibrating a material that is then
coupled to the air.

A clarinet sound is made by a vibrating air column, a very different thing.
The clarinet body vibrates a negligible amount.

****** Negligible, it isn't negligible to most beginners. The human body/brain learns to ignore these vibrations in the body of the instrument within days of the first lesson.

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