Klarinet Archive - Posting 000700.txt from 2004/07

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Sound character based on medium, and the subject of beating a dead h...
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 16:24:16 -0400

This is particularly interesting and helpful. I wonder if we are
focusing too strongly on Benade's words, "Playing behavior." Is
it possible that he is referring to something other than sound
character, for instance responsiveness?

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: GrabnerWG@-----.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 11:45 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] Sound character based on medium, and the
subject of
beating a dead h...

Instead of working constructively here, I have been reviewing
what Benade had
to say about material influencing tone. He seems to have waffled
back and
forth a bit. In "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics" pages 499 -
501, discussing
"The effect of Wall Material on the Playing Properties of Wind
Instruments" he
states "If the walls are thick enough not to vibrate and if they
are smooth
and nonporous, experiment and theory agree that switching
materials will makes
changes in the damping that are generally less than the
two-percent change that
most musicians are able to detect."

Later, in 1977, in notes prepared for a course in Acoustic
Evolution of Wind
Instruments,(taught at Case Western University) he states
(regarding wood vs.
metal) "Experiment shows that a player can just about (usually)
detect a
change of 2% so that wood vs. metal is just detectable."

He goes on to say that he is not sure if a listener can detect
the change.

He was much interested/concerned with the porosity of different
materials and
the sharpness vs smoothness of edges. He states "All this goes
to show that
the material from which the instrument is made may be expected to
play an
important role in its playing behavior from energy considerations
alone."

One wishes Benade had lived a much longer life, as he had
understanding of
the math/physics as well as a musicians knowledge and
sensitivity.

Walter Grabner
http://www.clarinetxpress.com/
World-class clarinet mouthpieces

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