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Re: Questions on shrinking tone hole

Author: Chris P
Date: 2024-04-07 22:05

The speaker/register key works by allowing atmospheric pressure to enter and disrupt the air column in the bore which in turn raises the pitch of the note by a 12th in the case of the clarinet, due to it having a closed/stopped cylindrical bore so it overblows just the odd numbered harmonics instead of the full harmonic series as a flute (open cylindrical bore) or oboe (closed conical bore) does.

Placing the speaker vent in a specific location on or near to a nodal point of the air column is similar in lightly touching a string at any nodal point along its length to make it sound a harmonic at a much higher pitch than the open string (an 8ve, 12th, two 8ves, etc.). As the speaker tube is in a fixed position, certain upper register notes are stronger than others and its position is a compromise to keep things simple in terms of mechanisms as ideally you'd want a speaker vent for nearly every note to make it sound in the upper register which would be a mechanical nightmare if it's fully automatic, or a physical nightmare if it's a separate speaker key for every note.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2024-04-08 05:01)

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