Klarinet Archive - Posting 000053.txt from 2004/08

From: "Shaw, Kenneth R." <krshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Bore Texture
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 10:42:20 -0400


A couple of weeks ago, on the subject of the effect of materials on
tone, I wrote: "I think that Benade wrote that bore smoothness made
little difference."

I hadn't read Benade for a while, and it turns out I was mistaken.
Steve Fox very kindly contacted me off line to set the record straight
and gave me permission to post the following explanation:

>>To forestall a potential misunderstanding here: The reference is
probably to "Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics", pp. 499-501, as part of
a brief but useful discussion of the potential effects of body materials
on the behaviour of woodwinds. What Benade says is that IF the walls of
the tube are sufficiently smooth and nonporous, the differences in
=66rictional wave damping among various types of wood and metal are
generally below the threshold of detectability by the player. That "IF"
is crucial, however; when rough, porous or soft materials are included,
the differences become significant (as is obvious from practical
experience). In some of his more technical writings (e.g., the lecture
notes to his university course "Acoustical Evolution of Wind
Instruments"; these are available at
<http://ccrma.stanford.edu/marl/Benade/writings/70s.html> ), Benade
delves into bore surface effects in some detail, considering both
texture and thermal transfer.<<

>>As a further personal observation, what we perceive as a "plasticky"
tone - implying both harshness and brightness - may at least sometimes
be related not to an excessively smooth bore surface, but rather to
medium-scale irregularities in bore diameter (variations on the order of
a tenth of a millimeter, over distances of 10-20mm or so), resulting
=66rom imprecise manufacturing techniques.<<

This is interesting. The unanswered question is the point at which wood
pores in the bore surface start to affect tone and response, and what
this effect is. Alvin Swiney, who worked with Moennig, wrote that a
bell made of soft wood, with significant numbers of pores showing,
produced a better tone
<http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/Klarinet/1999/11/000876.txt>. David
Hite wrote the same thing about barrels
<http://www.jdhite.com/mouthpieces/shop1.htm> : "In selecting barrels
with the best sound, players have found that the softer the wood, the
better: hard, shiny finished wood will not produce nearly as good a
sound as softer, grainier wood with more open pores."

I can personally confirm that "Moennig taper" barrels, with a slight
"wasp waist" in the bore, make a significant improvement in tone and
response. I also have some barrels with the same taper, but made of
wood softer and more porous than grenadilla (cocus, rosewood, boxwood),
which have a tone noticeably different from grenadilla. Bill McColl, of
the Soni Ventorum Quintet, had Buffet make a Bb/A pair of R-13s make
completely of boxwood. I haven't heard him play them, but everyone who
has says they sound very different from grenadilla instruments, with a
less resonant tone.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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