Klarinet Archive - Posting 000164.txt from 2007/09

From: John Dablin <jdablin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Blown out clarinets
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2007 17:28:25 -0400

Just a thought: someone suggested some speculative reasons for so
called "blow out", including the effects of saliva on the wood. Now
I know full well that if any amount of saliva gets behind my reed
the result is a disastrous "frying" sound, so I think it extremely
unlikely that saliva gets any further than the mouthpiece, if it
even gets that far. I think it's extremely unlikely that it can
travel far enough to affect the wood. Surely the moisture we swab
out of our instruments is the result of water vapour in our breath
condensing as it cools while travelling down the instrument?

John Dablin
Aylesbury UK

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