 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: FT
Date: 2002-01-10 20:30
What are they??/ I've heard like, "the clarinet has weak harmonics, the oboe has it too, the violin, blah, blah, blah....)What is it???/
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-01-10 20:42
Any note higher than the basic note that the given length will provide. For the clarinet, anything above the midline Bb is a harmonic of a note in the lower register of the clarinet.
For example, C4 (see chart above) is the lowest note that can be played on the clarinet at the length of tube resulting when the right hand holes are open. This is called the fundamental or 1st harmonic. When you add the register key, you get the G just above the staff. This is the thrid harmonic. On the clarinet, the even number harmonics are not accessible to the player. This is why our register jump is more than an octave.
Mathematically, the harmonics are the notes that you get if you take the frequency of the funadmental note and divide by whole numbers (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc).
When something vibrates, it not only generates its basic frequency but also the harmonics in varying strengths. This gives each instrument its unique sound quality.
For the clarinet, the registers relate to the harmonics like this:
Chalumeau register -- 1st harmonic
Clarion register -- 3rd harmonic
Altissimo register - depending on the note and fingering chosen, it can be a 5th, 7th, or 9th harmonic
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-01-10 20:42
Harmonics, where to begin. Well, from a viola player's point of view (or any other string instrument) they're relatively easily achieved. It's just a matter of dividing the length of your string by half, then half again and so on. The harmonics gradually get closer together the higher you go, rather like the notes played on the natural horn. The trick is to use a very light touch on the string - not pressing the string onto the finger board. On the viola (and other strings) you can also produce "stopped" harmonics, whereby you hold down your first finger and then lightly touch the string with your little finger - this producing a note exactly two octaves above the note your first finger is sitting on. Also, interestingly, of you slide your finger lightly up and down the string whilst bowing, there are also harmonics produced (of varying intensity) at various other points. The pizzacato (plucked) harmonic is particularly effective, especially at the half way point. It's tricky, takes a bit of getting used to, but produces a crisp, bell like sound.
As to harmonics on wind instruments - I'll leave that to GBK or someone else with more information at hand (or a better understanding of Physics). I understand the flute can produce "harmonics" [which are indicated with a little "o" above the note (Stravinsky's Rite of Spring uses this often)] most easily. Also, the oboe produces natural harmonics, some of which are almost as loud as the native note being produced.
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-01-10 20:49
This thread also has some interesting view points on harmonics, enjoy!
http://www.sneezy.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=32440&t=32440
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-01-10 20:53
My last entry on this one! From the University of New South Wales (in Sydney) a very informative discussion, complete with diagrams. From their physics department.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/strings.html
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-10 21:27
diz...Nice analysis on string harmonics. It's always nice to have a violist / clarinetist on this board, just for these instances.
To elaborate on Dee's nice explanation:
The Altissimo register from C#6 to G6 are 5th harmonics.
G#6, A6, A#6 are 7th harmonics.
B6, C7 are 9th harmonics.
A good chapter to read is in Rendall's book "The Clarinet" (chapter 4) ...GBK
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-01-10 22:20
I've had the "honour" of playing the Mozart Quintet both as clarinetist and violist. I loved the two experiences for entirely different reasons. Mozart was extremely fond of both instruments, he used to play viola in string quartets.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-01-11 03:07
Mathematically speaking, any musical note emitted by an instrument is a synthesis of a fundamental and partials, Fourier summation. Sigma notation.
Clarinet is a closing tube instrument which have only odd series of partials, whereas violin or other instruments have even numbers harmonics. Therefore, clarinet has about 1/2 partials. But this makes clarinet sound different.
Those people who speaks the pooreness of 1/2 partials do not have musical ears to decipher the difference.
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Author: Eoin
Date: 2002-01-11 08:01
The word harmonics is used to mean two slightly different things, both of which have been mentioned in other postings here.
When you play a low note on your instrument, the sound produced consists of a fundamental tone, for example 200 cycles per second, and a number of tones whose frequencies are whole number multiples of this, for example 400 cycles per second, 600 cycles per second etc. The whole number harmonics are called partials or harmonics. The fundamental tone determines the pitch of the note you are playing. The amount of the harmonics present determine the quality of the tone, making it sound like a clarinet, oboe or flute. Clarinets have strong odd-number harmonics and weak even number ones. Oboes have all harmonics strong. Flutes have all harmonics weak.
The other use of the word harmonics is a method playing where the harmonic tones are produced without the fundamental. In wind instruments this is playing in a different register. For example in the clarinet, you produce the third harmonic without the fundamental to get the clarino / middle register. In a string instrument, you use the technique of touching the string gently to get the second harmonic. These harmonics usually sound different in tone to the fundamental notes. In wind instruments this is a problem and a lot of work is done by the makers to try and make the notes in different register sound similar in tone. In string instruments, the different tone of the harmonics is an advantage. They are used deliberately to make the music sound different.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-01-11 12:28
GBK wrote:
> ...
> To elaborate on Dee's nice explanation:
>
> The Altissimo register from C#6 to G6 are 5th harmonics.
>
> G#6, A6, A#6 are 7th harmonics.
>
> B6, C7 are 9th harmonics.
>
Some of these notes can be played as various harmonics depending on the fingering chosen. For example, G6 can be played as a 5th, 7th, or 9th harmonic of a fundamental note (of course it's a different fundamental note in each case). The "standard chromatic" fingering for G6 is actually a 7th harmonic. One of the more common alternates is a 9th harmonic.
The 5th and 7th harmonics tend to run flat compared to a well tempered scale, some worse than others. That is why it is common to select an alternate fingering for altissimo F, F#, and G in passages where these notes are sustained putting it into the 9th harmonic, which is better in tune.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-01-11 12:36
Dee...You are entirely right. I gave the "textbook answer" and did not account for alternate fingering choices. Thanks...GBK
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Author: Sandra F. H.
Date: 2002-01-11 12:55
Hi Everyone! The website that "diz" recommended is fabulous (University of South Wales). I suggest that you all check it out. Also, I suggest that students do some research on the "overtone series" and practice writing it out a few times. It's educational in itself and helpful in understanding all of this.
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Author: Mark J
Date: 2002-01-11 15:31
Don't you think that we, as clarinettists, should be able to give an accurate answer about harmonics.
Dee says that the fundamental is the first harmonic. Not when I went to school. The first harmonic is the one we can't get, the octave. The clarinet only provides the even numbered harmonics not the odd ones.
Diz says that he stops his viola strings halfway then half again etc. He should try stopping them at one third their length and one fifth etc.
Reading this makes me think "What kind of sad pedantic person is writing this?"
Well if you knew me you'd realise what a good description that is!
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-01-11 16:10
Mark J wrote:
>
> Don't you think that we, as clarinettists, should be able
> to give an accurate answer about harmonics.
> Dee says that the fundamental is the first harmonic. Not when I
> went to school. The first harmonic is the one we can't get, the
> octave. The clarinet only provides the even numbered harmonics
> not the odd ones.
>
WRONG! Multiply the fundamental frequency (or divide the fundamental wavelength) by 1 (for the first harmonic) and you get the fundamental again. Look at any standard book on clarinets and they clearly state that it is the odd harmnonics that we get.
The 2nd, 4th, 8th, 16th, etc are the octave jumps. Multiply the fundamental frequency by two and you get the first octave. Multiply by 2 again and you get the next octave and so on.
Look at any text on the harmonic series, whether you are talking about sound waves, radio waves, or any other wave form, and the fundamental and 1st harmonic are the same. They are simply different names for the same thing.
The first harmonic above the fundamental is the octave but to be mathematically correct and in line with standard acoustics and harmonic theory you would look at it like this: fundamental (1st harmonic) + first harmonic above that = 1 + 1 = 2nd harmonic. Those books that refer to the octave as the first harmonic are mathematically incorrect.
If you attempt to calculate frequencies (say for discovering alternate fingerings) and do not use the correct math definition (i.e. fundamental = 1st harmonic), you will not get the correct answers.
This is very evident with strings. To get the 1st octave jump, you use 1/2 the string length. i.e. You divide the fundamental wavelength by 2 (or multiply the frequncy by 2).
Lets look at concert A octaves. Here are the pitches starting at the bottom of a piano.
A = 27.5
A = 55
A = 110
A = 220
A = 440 (International Standard for tuning although often disregarded)
A = 880
A = 1760
A = 3520
etc.
Those few books that call the octave the first harmonic are either incorrect due to the ignorance of the author or correct acoustic theory OR the author is referring to it *relative* to the fundamental, i.e., it is the "first one" above the fundamental, making it mathematically the 2nd harmonic.
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Author: Emms
Date: 2002-01-11 18:24
There's probably confusion about first overtone and first harmonic. The first overtone is the second harmonic.
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Author: Emms
Date: 2002-01-11 18:27
If a whole string vibrates, it produces the first harmonic - fundamental. Vibrate half the string, you get the second harmonic. Vibrate a third of the string, you get the third harmonic, etc.
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Author: Mark J
Date: 2002-01-14 16:30
Dee.
I apologise. I've gone through life convinced that they were named the other way, but humbly accept that I was wrong. Still that's what Sneezy is here for: to learn from each other
Mark J.
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Author: Bob H
Date: 2002-07-20 19:32
Does anyone know of instructions and practice material using shifting lip/teeth positions on the reed(different node points) to achieve the 3,5,7,and 9th partials, from the clarion register on up the the altissimo and high altissime register ??
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