 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Tan
Date: 2008-09-08 13:23
I've read the threads about darker tone, brighter tone, velvet, light, solid, creamy...... I would like to ask how to define one's tone is a bright or a dark clarinet sound.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-09-08 17:12
A bright tone has a lot of upper partials present and a dark tone has fewer upper paritals present (when analysed with the aid of an oscilloscope or similar).
You can get an idea of this by using different strength reeds on your own mouthpiece - a soft reed will sound 'bright' in comparison to a hard reed which will sound 'dark'.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Tan
Date: 2008-09-08 18:13
and does ones mouthpiece influence the tone and how about the material use to make a clarinet for example ABS resin, grenadilla, hard rubber, different material produce different sound perhaps ? i know the french clarinet sounds brighter, on the other hand the oehler and the wurlitzer are darker sounding.
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-09-08 21:29
Hard rubber mouthpieces are supposed to be darker than plastic mouthpieces.
When comparing my B45 to my Pyne Polycrystal, the B45 (hard rubber) is noticeably darker IMO.
Can anyone link some clarinet videos/music to what he/she thinks a "dark" tone and a "bright" tone is? I'm slightly confused on tone color as well.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-09-08 21:41
cxgreen48 wrote:
> Can anyone link some clarinet videos/music to what he/she
> thinks a "dark" tone and a "bright" tone is? I'm slightly
> confused on tone color as well.
When exaggerated, a "bright" tone becomes shrill while a "dark" tone becomes dull.
If you have a guitar and pluck a string in the middle, it's dark while when you pluck it near the end it's bright.
--
Ben
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2008-09-08 21:55
>If you have a guitar and pluck a string in the middle, it's dark while when you pluck it near the end it's bright<
Ben, what an excellent analogy. I plunk around on a guitar some, too, and I sometimes play it a bit up the neck for effect, but I hadn't even thought about the physics of it.
CarlT
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-09-08 23:53
Hmm... I think that helps...
also, what is the dark tone with a "ring?"
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Author: Tan
Date: 2008-09-09 10:01
are there any "in between" ? Dark> XXX> Bright
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-09-09 10:24
> are there any "in between" ? Dark> XXX> Bright
Everyone's somewhere in between. It's amazing how much "tone shaping" can be done with the embouchure alone.
Or do you want a name for XXX? How about "appropriate"? I mean, it must fit the piece or the passage you're in...
For me, "ring" is a mere buzzword (but it does not mean that the rings are buzzing), something like a "combination of pleasant overtones", or "dark without being dull" or "I like it".
--
Ben
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-09-09 10:47
When I put on my Luyben rather than my Rovner, there is a weird tone difference. The clarion (i think that's what it's called) notes IMO have a "ring" to it. It sounds really kind of weird; I still think the tone is slightly dark, but there's a weird brightness to it?
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