Author: Phil Freihofner
Date: 2007-02-01 06:30
Could you provide citations?
From my reading of "The Physics of Musical Instruments" by Fletcher & Rossing, 2nd ed. 1998, I learned that clarinet reeds do NOT have to close all the way to sound. They can vibrate without closing, making the clarinet an instrument with perhaps the lowest ppp.
The oboe, and other double reeds, in contrast, must close ALL the way in order for a note to sound. See page 494 for a discussion of this.
In thinking about this, I noticed that when I squeeze a reed shut, much of the corners close before the center of the tip. Thus, perhaps because the point at which the center of the tip closes (the last thing to close) is the most relevant, what we do with the corners doesn't really matter that much.
I've certainly had extremely ragged reeds that play quite well, but only when the raggedness involved the corners, not the center of the tip.
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