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Backpressure

Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2006-04-11 04:15

I was always curious as to how much pressure was being exerted on the inside walls of my mouth, so...I decided to measure it.

What I did was take an ASHCROFT air pressure gauge, hooked it up to a 1/4" clear plastic tubing and carefully inserted both the tubing and the mouthpiece into my mouth.

I started out with a Brad Behn "Overture" mpc which has around a 1.06mm opening and a 34 facing. To begin any sound at all, the air pressure had to be right around 4.3 oz/sq in. After the tone was started, I could reduce the pressure to 4.0 oz/sq in and it would still hold. Any lower than that and the sound was gone.

I decided to try a Morgan Protone with a 1.15mm tip opening and a 32 facing length. To get the tone started at all, I had to increase the pressure to 5.7 oz/sq in.

All of this was done on an open "G" note using a Mitchell Lurie #2 reed on a Conn 16 clarinet.

What I also found interesting was playing a low "F" note. The pressure reading to begin the note was precisely the same as an open "G".

The sound intensity would increase up until around 7 oz/sq in and basically stayed the same all the way up to 13 oz/sq in. (which was as high as I could comfortably go).

I think this might be an interesting way to compare efficiency of different mouthpieces as well as different barrel designs.

I'm not sure if this has any value to anyone else, but I found it interesting.

Post Edited (2006-04-11 05:39)

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