Author: TomS
Date: 2014-09-25 08:19
I think the softer materials for clarinet bodies, such as Cocobolo wood and hard rubber attenuate the highest overtones of the clarinet more, and yield a slightly warmer sound than materials like Grenadilla. Some listeners hear this as a difference in projection. IMHO a denser material seems to have a little more edge to the tone, and cuts through the fabric of accompanying sound in an ensemble, being heard better sometimes.
However, some prefer the sound to be less edgy, especially in chamber or solo music. So, there is an occasion to use a softer material to an advantage.
For me, the inherent "warmness" of hard rubber gives me the freedom to chose a lighter and more responsive reed and MP, and this regains some of the "edge" or "projection" and with the bonus of a better performing total setup. It's a win, win situation.
I suspect that one reason the barrel and bell make such a surprising amount of difference in the sound is because they are free to vibrate on there own, not being damped with keys, lips, ligature, hands, etc. And they are mechanically decoupled from the rest of the clarinet by the compliance of the cork on the tenons. I always slightly pull the MP, barrel and bell joint, as to help mechanically isolate them from the adjacent piece of the clarinet. I suspect that the cork in the joints of the clarinet may effect the sound, because of how it mechanically decouples each piece of the instrument, especially the barrel and bell. An interesting study could be performed on the audible effects of different cork sources and synthetic corks.
In addition, the geometry of the barrel and bell, and how the weight is distributed should also effect how it vibrates. It's possible this distribution (not just the value) of weight might be one reason that a Backun Fatboy barrel plays/sounds different that a Traditional, and the same would be true of different bells as well. The weight of the barrel or bell and compliance of the cork determines the fundamental resonance but other smaller resonances exist as well that can add or subtract tone colours.
All very interesting ... might be "miking a mouse" in importance in the playing equipment ... but more could be learned and understood.
Tom
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The Clarinet BBoard
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