 The Fingering Forum
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2003-09-03 23:30
The previous thread was sort of deviating from what was originally asked...so here goes:
"Does the material that an instrument is made of affect the sound?"
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Author: musichick
Date: 2003-09-04 00:40
Your an oboe person... I personally think I sound better on a wood one then a plastic, even if both are not of professional quality. I guess wood are better... However, I have heard that plastic ones can be quite good. I just probably haven't tried one. So I'm not actually answering the question, am I. On flutes, my silver one is a heck of a lot better then my nickel one. However, the nickel one is a student model, where as the silver is professional, so that would make sence. I do think silver is the best material though, and gives it a richer tone. That brings up the question i've often wondered... What's up with James Gallway's gold flute? I think I'm going to make that a new link. But I do think silver makes a difference, except for the keys. Keys don't matter in terms of sound. So I dont understand why there not made to be more durible, instead of tarnishible and such silver. Ok, i need to stop before I hurt myself
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Author: Dee
Date: 2003-09-04 00:50
This is not the right place to ask the question as the people on this board have not run the tests. They will only be giving their subjective feelings that are not borne out by test data. There's quite a bit of self-fulling prophecy in it. They player thinks it will sound better so his/her subconscious makes the embouchure adjustment and then they do sound better.
My metal Noblet clarinets, intermediate grade instruments, sound just as good as wooden intermediate clarinets. It is the player, mouthpiece, and reed combo that have the most impact on the sound. The design of the clarinet (tone hole size, placement, undercutting) is the next category but it has less of an impact.
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Author: Theboy_2
Date: 2003-09-04 02:42
Does it really matter what the instrument is made of? isn't it a personal prefrence? But to answer it i guess, all instruments are made differently, there really isn't a way to get an acurate result. different manufacturers have different ways of making their instruments. even if the same instrument is played, between the two people playing, they'll still get two different results(experience, technique, etc).
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Author: ~Heather ~
Date: 2003-09-04 03:04
yes it does. There is a difference between a plastic and a wood clarinet in sound, and especially in piccolo (metal-loud and shrill for marching, metal/plastic-in between sound great for marching and concert, and wood-soft gentle sound for concert) So yes the type of material that the instrument is made out of does make a difference.
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Author: Saxplaya
Date: 2003-09-04 03:12
The material is always imporant. Yes u might get the same exact tone and sound but not the same loudness...playing on a plastic clarinet will not match up the loudness of a wooden clarinet...its been proven in my band....and yes the mouthpiece and reed were removed from one clarinet to the other with no changes. Also i must agree with heather...picolos definetly matter what the material of the instument is.
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2003-09-04 03:13
I don't get it, Dee. If what the instrument is made of has no effect at all, then why do manufacturers of professional instruments even bother to silver-plate, or gold-plate, or use cocobola wood, or violetwood, or plastic top/wood bottom instruments? If all these things had no effect at all, wouldn't a professional have found out by now?
I did a simple little test at home that proves something against: I have a dutch oven (stainless steel) and a plastic bin of almost the exact same size. I then proceeded to have my unsuspecting friend sing an A into each. They sounded quite different! See, any material will absorb and reflect sound, and different materials absorb and reflect sound differently. So if what you're saying is true, we could put a thin layer of cotton all around the inside of my oboe,(and then of course shave that same thickness of wood off the inside of the bore to not change it's size) and it wouldn't sound different?
Explain this to me.
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2003-09-04 03:48
Yep. You know what the plural of anecdote is don't you?
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Author: miller
Date: 2003-09-04 07:19
on a flute they often sound better with a solid silver head joint but what material the body is made out of makes little difference
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Author: Jason Andrews
Date: 2003-09-10 20:41
absolutely it makes a huge difference. All other things being equal of course. You can't hand a beginner a professional flute and expect it to sound like James Galway but put dear James on a beginners flute and it'll sound a lot different than his gold one. I have a beautiful old Clarinet made from ebony unlike anything you can buy new. Aparently they would cure the wood by hanging it over a certian river in Paris. Sounds crazy but the tone it creates is richer and fuller than the new ones I've heard. Noticeably so. I had others play both instruments and could hear a distinct difference. I wasn't convinced at first but now I am.
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