 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-06-07 12:11
I've seen people here referring to various registers as "Chalomeau" (sp?), Clarion, etc. Can somebody point me to a refernce which defines those registers? I never had any music theory, so some of the terminology is new to me even though I've played for years.
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-06-07 12:23
I don't see any names to go along with the note ranges, so let me guess. From bottom to top: Chalomeau (I did figure out from context that this is the lowest), open, clarion, altissimo?
Thanks!
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2005-06-07 13:22
Archer1960
Check the first page as it shows:
Chalumeau E3 to B4
Clarion B4 to C6
Lower Altissimo C6 to G6
HRL
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-06-07 13:29
Thanks; that cleared it up. When I went to that link initially, it only showed the .gif image without the rest of the page around it. I had done a search before posting the message, but had a misspelling in my search terms so it wasn't found.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-06-07 13:45
Hi Archer1960 [a good year!], your assumptions just above are very good, what you refer to as "open", we usually call throat tones, F#4 thru Bb4. GBK's chart reference is also fine, but I seem to find some discrepancies there. With alto, bass and contra cls ranging down to low Eb3 [conventionally] and the Bassets, Bas. cl, Bas. horn, low C bass and contras ranging down to [what could/should? be called] C3, the "water" becomes somewhat "muddied". All in all, our 4 ranges, chalemeau, throat, clarion, altissimo are good for general discussion, the individual note designations ![[Bb4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/bb4.gif) are specific for "bad-note" [repair] reference/discussion, IMHO . All comments/corrections welcomed. Don [1919]
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Dee
Date: 2005-06-08 00:31
It is easier to think of them in terms of the harmonic series if you have any background in acoustics, radio, math, etc.
Those notes that are the fundamental wave length (1st harmonic) are the chalumeau (please note the spelling for future searches). This is the lowest note that can be played with the length of tube used. The "throat tones" are part of the chalumeau range but have some special problems due to the shortness of the tube used in sounding the note. They are not actually a separate range as they are the lowest notes that can be sounded for the length of tube being sounded.
The next range is the clarion. It is the 3rd harmonic (note the clarinet skips the even harmonics when it comes to sounding notes).
The next range is the altissimo. It is the 5th, 7th, and on up odd number harmonics.
Certain notes can be played in different "ranges". For example, the C in the middle of the staff is normally played in the clarion range by fingering a low F plus the register key. However when trilling from Bb to C, you use the trill keys on the right side of the instrument and it is then actually played as a chalumeau note and lays in the section known as the throat tones. Similarly, the C# two ledger lines above the staff can be played as part of the clarion range by thumb + register key+ two side keys or it can be played as an altissimo note with a different fingering.
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Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-06-08 12:07
Thanks, Dee -
That description makes things a LOT clearer. My degree is in Electrical Engineering, so I understand what you're saying fine. Not being an acoustics specialist, though, wouldn't all wind instruments be limited to the odd-numbered harmonics as their primary tones, since they're all tubes with one open end?
On a separate but related subject, does anybody know where the words used to describe the ranges come from? Altissimo I think I understand, but the rest I'm not sure about.
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-06-08 13:09
Most wind instruments can sound both odd and even harmonics; the clarinet is one of the few exceptions.
Flutes have two open ends: it's true that one end of the tube is plugged, but the embouchure hole makes it open again. The reason most other instruments behave like open tubes is a bit debatable, but they do. Think of bugle calls: these typically use the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 harmonics.
The word chalumeau is the name of a predecessor of the clarinet, which couldn't overblow so sounded only its fundamentals. The word chalumeau is related to shawm, schalmey etc, other types of reed instrument only very distantly related to the clarinet.
The word clarion is the same word as in "clarion call" meaning a trumpet call. Clarinet just means "little trumpet". The reason is that early clarinets playing in their clarion register sounded rather like the trumpets of the day - but much sweeter than a modern trumpet.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-06-08 21:45
I just learned the other day that the cornet has a tapered bore whereas the trumpet has cylindrical. Many things are not as simple as they seem.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Vrat
Date: 2005-06-09 17:05
For more on the subject of clarinet and other wind instruments acoustics you may check
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/clarinetacoustics.html
Vrat
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Author: igor
Date: 2005-06-09 21:28
Speaking of harmonics and clarinet, it recently dawned on me that there is a link between uneven harmonics and the fact that clarinet overblows in 12ths. A twelve is nothing else than an octave plus a fifth.
The octave has a frequency ratio of 2:1, and the fifth is 3:2. We add intervals but we multiply frequencies. 3:2 * 2:1 = 3:1. And I bet that what happens when I sqeak. Sometimes I get 3f instead of f, sometimes I get 5f, and sometimes I get who knows what... That would probably explain the fact that other instruments, such as sax(?) overblow in octaves. Must be about even harmonics.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2005-06-10 01:00
There are several geometries for wind instruments each of which has certain acoustical properties.
Clarinet - acts like a cylinder with one end closed.
Flute - acts like a cylinder with both ends open.
Oboe and sax - act like cones.
Flutes, oboes, and saxes can sound both even and odd harmonics.
Cylinders closed on one end can only sound odd harmonics. Note that organ pipes are also cylinders with one end closed. In some ways the clarinet sound is organ like. A clarinet choir will often make a person think of organs.
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