Klarinet Archive - Posting 000577.txt from 2004/10

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Some more thoughts on embouchures
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 12:07:17 -0400

...and a fifth question:

(5) How do flutes and whistles produce sounds without having reeds that
touch the mouthpiece?

The issue here is that contact between reed and mouthpiece is not the
fundamental cause of a clarinet's sound, yet the paragraphs that you
posted suggest to a reader to that it is. I'm not saying that
controlling the reed is unimportant, but you are focusing your
explanation on the wrong 'starting point'.

The fundamental cause of a sound is fluctuation of air pressure, which
can be accomplished by a number of different strategies (think again of
why a hand clap makes a sound?) or by a vibrating sounding board, etc.

When you are trying to present a clear understanding to a reader, think
about string instruments. What produces a violin's sound? The
vibrating string or the sounding board?

Would you begin your explanation by saying that the string must be
fastened at both ends in order for a sound to be produced. Would you
say that in order to prove this physical principle, if you wave a string
in the air, no sound is produced.... ooops! in fact you *can* make a
sound this way, and the fact that the string is not fastened at both
ends is not the basic cause of anything.

Do you see the analogy, Adam?

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