Klarinet Archive - Posting 000144.txt from 2005/03

From: Elgenubi@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Re: German Sound, Acoustical Analysis
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 16:54:39 -0500

Vann Joe Turner,
I understand what you are suggesting. Do a spectral analysis on two
different clarinets, say a Boehm and a Oehler, and find out which harmonics are
different here and there. I think it would be interesting; I even think we could
define 'dark' precisely.

But would it be deeply useful? We would find different answers for all the
different registers, and we could probably define the range of control
different embouchures can have. (I bet an embouchure could swamp the difference in
the clarinet; I don't know, though.) We would probably have to define and build
mechanical embouchures to avoid a human adjusting during the test. We would
have to define how to measure the 'sound', and how our measuring equipment
compares to subjective human hearing. And in the end our results would be so far
removed from the art of playing music, that it really wouldn't inform the day
to day conversations clarinetists have with each other. That is probably why
it hasn't been done.

But it would be interesting. I have enjoyed playing with spectrum analyzers
in my work, and I have enjoyed looking at the spectra on the UNSW website you
mention. Those little peaks out there at the fifth and seventh harmonics are
pretty subtle.

Wayne Thompson

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