Klarinet Archive - Posting 000180.txt from 2004/11

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinets
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 22:55:01 -0500

Your question is not a bad one, just one that is difficult to
grasp, which is why I am taking it in small steps.

The answer to my question is that, given any particular fingering
position that remains constant for each of the five imaginary
clarinets I spoke of, the note produced on any clarinet will be
lower on the longer instrument. So for the five clarinets I
spoke of, what you will hear are five different scales, the
second being lower than the first because the second clarinet is
longer than the first.

And the same scale (with the identical finger positions) will be
lower on the third than the second.

And the fourth will lower than the third.

And the fifth will be the lowest of the five.

So why should this be true?

When a player blows into a clarinet the air travels down the tube
and is prepared to come out of the clarinet at the first open
hole. If you cover the first open hole, the air will come out
the second open hole. And this will continue to happen as you
close the holes in successive order. If you use all your fingers
to close all the holes, the air column will come out the bottom
of the clarinet and produce the lowest tone on that clarinet.

The longer the air column, the lower the note.

Now go back to the five imaginary clarinets.

Your daughter put her fingers down a certain on the first
clarinet and air column ran from her mouth to the first open hole
it found. It produced a tone.

Then she went to the second clarinet and put her fingers THE SAME
WAY. But the second clarinet was longer that then first one, so
when the air column came out the first open hole on the second
clarinet, it was a longer air column than the one that came out
of the first open hole on the second clarinet.

And so forth and so on for the remaining three clarinets. Why
the same fingering ont he fifth clarinet caused the air column to
come out a hole that was one and 1/3 feet longer than on the
first clarinet.

And that is why the five clarinets will produce five different
scales. It is a property of physics known to the ancient Greets
who thought that there was magic in the fact that a longer string
produced a lower note. And they had tables to predict what note
would be heard if a vibrating string was held here or there.

Why is a tuba lower than a trumpet. Why is a sting bass lower
than an oboe. Because the vibrating column produced in one case
is longer than the vibrating air column produced in another.

Now let's name three kinds of clarinets. One is a clarinet in C,
the next is a clarinet in B-flat. (Note that the name describes
a lower note; i.e., B-flat is lower than C.) The third is a
clarinet in A.

Question: you can really buy these clarinets in a music store.
Describe these three clarinets by length?

Or this: you go into a store and there are three clarinets in the
display case: a short one, a medium length one, a long one. You
say, "My daughter wants to see the A clarinet."

The worker takes the shortest instrument out of the case and
hands it to you.

You say, "I'm afraid you don't know what you are doing."

Why have you said this? Are you correct?

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

I would think that the pitch would be different on all
of them. I suppose that would be similiar to moving
up and down a keyboard playing the same notes just in
a different position/pitch. Bad analogy but one I can
understand.

So i suppose my question about them is a bad one.
k

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