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Re: Bundy and very high harmonic/partial

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2017-01-16 05:33

Tony suggests one strong possibility if you're taking a medicine that you haven't taken before. Even a bad ear infection can cause a player to hear weird things in his sound because the part of the tone that reaches the ear through the air may be changed in relation to the part transmitted by bone conduction.

But it doesn't sound from your post as though this is your only clarinet, and tinnitus or temporary hearing changes would move from one instrument to another. Does the same thing happen with other clarinets or only this Bundy? Does the harmonic appear if you use this mouthpiece on another instrument?

Assuming it's unique to the Bundy:

If it's a metallic kind of ringing, it could be some metal part vibrating against another one, or a spring that's loose somewhere. You'd probably find this most easily by playing a note that causes the harmonic and either systematically touching all the keys yourself to see if touching any of them stops the ring, or having someone else briefly hold each key while you play.

It could be a "singing" pad - the tear that's vibrating could be outside the pad seat, so it might vibrate while the pad is open and not leak during a leak test, when it's closed. In the same way, it could be dirt in a tone hole that's open most of the time that you're playing in the register that's affected (e.g. LH 1st finger if by high register you mean altissimo, register vent if you just mean clarion notes).

It could be something in your ligature that only gets excited enough or high enough for you to notice when you're playing in a high range. If you tend at all to leak air around your embouchure, the air can cause a vibration as it hits an edge of the ligature (especially a metal one) the way a flute tone is produced.

Where in the clarinet's range does this begin to happen? Are you talking about clarion or altissimo? Can you describe it any more completely than "a very high harmonic or partial?" It's always hard to work from a verbal description of something that probably would be clearer if it could actually be heard.

Karl

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