Klarinet Archive - Posting 000775.txt from 2004/07

From: Georg.Kuehner@-----.de (Georg K=?ISO-8859-1?B?/A==?=hner)
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Measuring sound character
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:34:51 -0400

Hello Dan,

I just wanted to give an example that a well trained person has the
possibility to hear the slightest difference - for example the way a reed is
produced without any help of oscillators or such stuff only using the ears
(something musicians shoul do more often :-))

So I think if the difference could be heard why should it not be possible to
hear the difference between different materials?

Regards Georg

Am 20.07.2004 17:22 Uhr schrieb "dnleeson" unter <dnleeson@-----.net>:

> Georg Kuhner's interesting note causes me to think that two
> issues are being intertwined in this discussion, and I am not
> sure that they belong together.
>
> One issue has to do with assertions about the character of sound
> produced on a clarinet having anything (or nothing) to do with
> the material from which the clarinet is made. The argument
> suggests that if you put your mouthpiece and setup into a
> clarinet of any material it will sound the same (or else that it
> will sound measurably different).
>
> The second issue is the one Georg brings up, but it echos similar
> statements from other players, namely the very important role of
> the mouthpiece in producing sound character.
>
>> From the inception of this discussion (which goes back several
> years now), the assumption has always been that it is the
> clarinet about which we are speaking, not the clarinet AND its
> particular mouthpiece.
>
> There is little doubt that mouthpieces (and setups involving
> reeds and ligatures which have their own issues) have a
> distinctive impact on sound character. I certainly have never
> denied this, but at the same time I have never mentioned the
> subject because I always assumed that what we were talking about
> was the clarinet and the clarinet alone.
>
> So when I would argue about consistency of sound from clarinet to
> clarinet, I invariably stated clarinets of wood, hard rubber,
> glass, even bamboo, each of which would use the player's standard
> mouthpiece. And when I spoke of a behind-a-screen test, my
> assumption was always that a player would execute on clarinets of
> a variety of materials, but with a single mouthpiece and
> undisturbed setup. Maybe that was a bad assumption on my part,
> but it is part and parcel of my entire argument about sound
> character being unaffected by material of the instrument.
>
> Do we have two issues intertwined here?
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Georg Kuhner [mailto:Georg.Kuehner@-----.de]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 7:00 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Re: Measuring sound character
>
>
> Ot only the difference of the same type of wood but also the way
> You work
> with the wood!!!
> I sent this a few days ago to the list:
>
>
> "I had an really interesting experience last week!
>
> I visited my old teacher professor for a private lesson (bot
> interesting to
> You all so far).
>
> I started to play some long notes some staccato ... And after a
> few minutes
> he came into the room and said:
>
> You are using a reed made by machine using sanding paper and not
> a plane!!!
>
> He was absolutely right! I have both sort odf machines and he
> ould hear
> difference without listenin to me one and a half years just after
> a few
> seconds!!!"
>
> Regards Georg
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jimmy Lee" <jrlaudio@-----.net>
>> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 8:26 AM
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Re: Measuring sound character
>>
>>
>>> Is it possible for there to be as much difference between two
> pieces of
>> the same type of wood as between two dissimiliar types of wood?
> Just
>> thinking out loud.
>>> Jimmy
>>>
>>
>> Quite likely. Wood is not a homogeneous material so two pieces
> of the same
>> type of wood are going to be different in internal structure.
> For example,
>> the density of the wood is affected by the amount of moisture
> the tree
>> received. The wood can even vary in density in the same piece.
>>

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