 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2003-03-22 20:07
How does bore size affect the playability of a clarinet. Are smaller bore clarinets harder to play? Difference in tone? What is the difference.
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Author: Bradley
Date: 2003-03-23 01:16
Well- It would be easy to just say one thing equals another, but it depends.
I have found that a smaller bore makes the clarinet sound darker and project more, but it requires more air , and has more resistance. The larger bore clarinets have less of a focused, projected tone, but they have more ease of play. They also tend to be easier to bend the tone colours with.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2003-03-23 01:17
I think it has somethign to do with the resistance that you blow against. A smaller bore will seem like there's more air pressure needed to get the same volume of air into the clarinet and out. Take a look at how an oboe player's neck veins pop out as they play. Then look at the size of the bore they have to blow through. A larger bore will be easier to blow into, but the larger the bore, the more air needed for a Forte dynamic level. For that respect, take a look at a tuba player.
The bore I think is up to the person. Also, different mouthpieces can seem to add or relieve the amount of pressure you blow with. The different bores produce different sounds too. Not better or worse than others, but different. Hence why Pete Fountain's sound is described as "fat" with a large bore, and a german clarinet has it's distinct sound with it's different bore.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2003-03-23 13:51
a question here:
When you say resistance, what does that apply to and what does it actually mean?
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-03-23 14:13
I thought larger bore clarinets mainly meant a tendency toward forward, projecting sound at the expensive of quiter dynamic control?
With a proper mouthpiece, and experience, top players seem to manage quite well...
Most student horns are designed to be free-blowing (you don't want the kiddies to quit, hmm?) and have larger bores with fairly short tone hole chimneys...
I suppose anything with an internal diameter larger than 14.7mm will have some of these 'large bore' attributes.
Watcha wannabet that 6 months behind one of these, and you could do much as you choose?
"Better a quoteless, cranky old git than an insufferable shaver...
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-03-23 17:33
Most players tend to match the mouthpiece/reed combo with the instrument so resistance is only relative in relation to how you produce sound and with what equipment....
David Dow
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-03-23 20:19
Selmer claims "a darker, warmer sound" for its "small bore" Recital model.
I have never noticed that it provides more back pressure than larger bore clarinets and find it no different to play in that respect from others I have owned. Since the mouthpiece/reed opening provides a greater restriction than the bore, that seems logical.
An interesting test might be to blow into the barrel (without a mouthpiece) to see if it is actually possible (for those with lungs bigger than mine) to create back pressure at normal playing rates of blowing without a mouthpiece restriction.
If a thicker wall results from the smaller bore, perhaps a benefit might be a reduced propensity to crack.
Hans
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Author: Clarence
Date: 2003-03-23 23:27
With all the bad advice in this thread. I think I'll sit on the side lines.
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Author: Joel Clifton
Date: 2003-03-24 03:14
I was wondering, wouldn't a narrower bore/larger bore make the pitch higher/lower, making the clarinet have to be shorter/longer?
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Author: Joel Clifton
Date: 2003-03-24 03:19
Er, I mean, I think it would be narrow/wider, lower/higher, shorter/longer, respectively. Right?
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-03-24 03:58
I don't know about bad advice. Maybe difference of opinions. I play old metal clarinets and no question, some had bigger bores than others. I like some better than others but I don't know that I can coorelate particular playing characteristics to bore size. Changing mouthpieces, however, makes a big difference on any clarinet.I think the Conn had the smallest bore and maybe the Silva Bet or the Silver Kings had the largest. I don't have trouble bending notes on any of them.
One thought on tubas: The end that the player blows in is smaller than the bore of a clarinet. However, I do remember watching the oboe player in highschool and wondering if his head was going to explode. The bassoon player, with only a slightly larger bocal, looked relaxed.
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Author: graham
Date: 2003-03-24 08:23
The difference between the narrowest bore and widest bore on the market is less than 5%. All clarinets have such a wide bore relative to length that the idea that narrow ones create more pressure resistance than wider ones is unlikely to be true. How loud they seem to go is a different matter.
Having lived in a country where most top players have migrated from wide to narrow bore, over a period in which I have had the opportuntiy to listen to the best players around, I would say that the only difference that transcends the personality of each player is that the wider bore clarinets have the tendency to sound as if they are coming from anywhere or nowhere in the hall (there is little sense of location) whereas narrow bore clarinets, however "fat" the sound, sound like they are coming from somewhere in particular. Wide bore clarinets also have the tendency to sound very rough when the dynamic is pushed, whereas full throttle on a narrow bore clarinet tends to stay more coherent. Thus, even if wide bore clarinets go as loud, they may be played quieter if the player is trying to avoid the rough zone.
In the above comments my reference to wide bore is to a 15.2mm design such as the 1010.
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Author: Bradley
Date: 2003-03-24 11:24
I based my opinions off playing my Noblet (and others with a larger bore)with the same mouthpiece/reed setup, and then playing an R13. I even changed the barrel a few times to the one I use on my Noblet, and I definetly get a better projected sound with the R13. This also happens when I play Selmer Series 9*s and many other smaller bore clarinets. They also produce a darker sound. Maybe its just me, but the size of the bore definetly affects my projection, and it seems like also how loud I can get- the loudest sound I get out of my Noblet might be the same volume, but it is just not as desirable.
On another note- I do not think it is the opening that matters when it comes to Oboe players. As somewhat of an Oboe player and an English Horn player, I think it is more the whole upper joint of the oboe. When I use 2 of my bocals on my English Horn ( which are both the same size as the opening an Oboe has with its reed and top of the upper joint) I have a much easier time of playing in certain situations than on Oboe. Now I know nothing really about double reeds, but this is just what I've found. Not that it should matter at all, but I have a Selmer 121 Oboe and a Fox 500 English Horn.....
Bradley
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