Klarinet Archive - Posting 000084.txt from 2012/01

From: "Forest Aten" <forestaten@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Barrels
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:56:13 -0500


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Martin Marks [mailto:martymarks511@-----.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3:22 PM
> To: The Klarinet Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [kl] Barrels
>
> Buffet claims that their wooden clarinets are up to pitch in 4 minutes. With a short barrel your
> clarinet can be up to pitch immediately, How short can be determined immediately with a tuner.
> This isn't like rocket science.
>

[Forest]

The business about 22 minutes or 4 minutes....these hard and fast numbers, are just a part of what happens in the real
world. As you mentioned, Martin, this isn't rocket science...but it's more than quoting remembered excerpts of a study
done 30 plus years ago....or information off of the Buffet website. 30 years ago....today.....we suffer the same issues.

A few factors to use when you build the equation. A fun exercise...but not necessary...

1. room/ambient temp at the time of the test
2. temp of the clarinet body at the start of the study
3. known constant of the conductivity of the material that the clarinet is made from
4. air temp of the players breath (pretty constant)

Even knowing these factors, the time it takes for the clarinet to settle will have a lot to do with the kind of playing
one is involved in.

Lee Gibson's study....(where I suspect the 22 minutes number comes from) listed the specific conditions associated with
the 22 minute number. As the study was formally presented....the 22 minute example was the one that stuck in everyone's
head. It was actually 21 min, 30 something sec. People have for years rounded the number up. I'll try to find the paper.

In the real world, the difference between the room temp and the clarinet temp make a big difference in just how long it
takes the instrument/pitch to come to a point of stability. The closer the temps between clarinet and room....the less
time. The larger the difference...the longer time. If I walk into the Dallas Opera pit and it's really cold....it's
going to take me a bit longer to get my instrument up to a predictable pitch center. If I ride my motorcycle down to the
hall...and I don't plug in the heating strips that I've had made to transport my clarinets in winter, my clarinets will
be cool (in the low 70s usually) when I start playing. I work the pitch up carefully and slowly in that case. If the air
temp in the pit is warmer...or closer to the temp of my clarinet...it might very well take only the four minutes you say
Buffet claims.

Since this all started with the discussion on barrels....Clark Fobes has written up a very nice article on clarinet
tuning that he has published on his website www.clarkwfobes.com. Here's a reference link:
http://www.clarkwfobes.com/articles/TuningtheClarinetforPS.htm

Forest

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