Klarinet Archive - Posting 000218.txt from 2007/07

From: "Kent Krive" <k.krive@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Clarinet Manufacture - Differences between French and
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:10:00 -0400

...musings inspired by this thread...

Perhaps we could ask some professional percussionists how they would
evaluate a xylophone or marimba for purchase. I suspect a mostly subjective
evaluation of timbre, tempered by whatever amount of experience is brought
to the process.

Now imagine a xylophone or marimba with grenadilla bars. Would the
percussionists pick instruments whose bars would make the best clarinets?
Would the wood in the instruments chosen by the percussionists be that which
was chosen by instrument makers for clarinets?

Kent
----- Original Message -----
From: <Tom.Henson@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 6:24 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] Re: Clarinet Manufacture - Differences between French and
German - Wood is a "Living" Material

The tap test they perform for resonance is akin to taking a mallet and
hitting a wooden sound bar on a marimba.

A trained ear should be able to pick out the wood with the best sound
resonance or vibration. This may also be something they can feel with
their hands, not sure as I have never done it. I'm also not sure if they
are expecting to hear a specific note as well. Yes, this is a subjective
test in as much as it is done by ear and not machine as far as I know. I
suppose it would be possible to perform this test in a sound-proof type
room with an microphone and oscilloscope, but I don't think they do
anything near that elaborate. This is one of those things that has been
handed down from the experience gained by previous generations of
instrument makers in Germany and I understood many of them do this.
Morrie Backun also told me that it was possible to do tap testing of the
wooden blanks for resonance quality evaluation.

Tom Henson

<< Tim Roberts asked:

As an engineer, I cannot help but be struck by this paragraph. "Tap
tested for resonance qualities"? What units does one use to measure
"sound resonance"? What evidence is there that a higher "sound
resonance" actually makes a better clarinet? >>

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