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Re: Bell Covers, Masks With Mouth Holes, Instrument Covers, Etc... GIVE IT UP!

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-05-03 05:21

Philip, I may be misreading it, and I *was* reading quite quickly and not every word. Even its conclusions are technical and difficult reading. So the study is limited in its usefulness to an average reader who just wants to know what was found about aerosol emissions from a clarinet.

As you've already noted, though, the only measurement of tone hole emission seems to have been from the open bottom tone hole when the clarinetist played C5. As I read it, the open tone hole, when it was included inside the box with the masked bell, contributed significantly (in a statistical sense) to the overall amount of emission inside the box. But there was no effort to compare the effect of the open holes involved in, for instance a throat note, which vent much farther from the bell. So they didn't explore what effect a bell mask has on those short tube notes.

I don't have any problem accepting the effectiveness of a bell mask when B4 or C5 are being played, or E3 or F3. Maybe even G3/D5. But clarinet parts aren't limited to those long notes where maximal air volume is intuitively exiting the bell. Unless I've missed important content in this report, it seems as if the test designers really didn't understand or didn't want to consider the really important differences between woodwind sound production and vocal production, where all the air is exiting from the singer or speaker's mouth. And this is the important point most of us are making when we minimize a bell mask's effect.

As I've watched our players in the youth band I conduct on Sundays, now that we've resumed in person rehearsals with face and bell coverings in place, it seems to me, again intuitively, that the slotted face masks we're requiring the brass and woodwind players to wear are of even less use. If the player's technique is sound, there shouldn't be any air exiting from the mouth except what goes into the instrument, so the face mask isn't going to stop any emissions.

I actually noticed today for the first time since we started rehearsing 3 weeks ago that the flute players are using mask with slots on each side to pass the flute through so the mouth plate itself is inside a sort of pouch. I don't know exactly how these masks don't interfere with the air flow enough to damp the sound, but our flutists seemed to be able to play quite well with them in place.

Karl

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