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Re: Effect of Oral Cavity Size on Sound

Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-06-12 01:17

It must be remembered that the clarinet's sound (as all other wind instruments) is the vibrating column of air within the instrument. The generator of that vibrating air column is the reed as it moves across the rails of the mouthpiece. Now the lips and air affect the quality of that sound generator's vibrations, but there is nothing prior to the reed/mouthpiece that has any bearing on the sound at all.

There was a circulated x-ray video of clarinet playing where many seem to see the movement of the tongue as an important factor yet do not wish to comment (honestly) on how that player moves his reed contact point quite dramatically up and down the reed. I don't suppose THAT has anything to do with the sound (as an eeee...yawwwww, eeeee....yawwwww sound is produced). :-)

I needed to add as well that though I've never heard Sabine Meyer speak, I'd bet her voice is neither as deep or sonorous as Jack Brymer's voice.

And stepping back from the specifics, what I am really trying to put forth is that ANYONE can sound great on clarinet. It comes down to knowing the mechanism and using your ears to respond to what effects are achieved by all the combinations of air and embouchure. And there is a lifetime's worth of combinations.

...........Paul Aviles

Post Edited (2023-06-12 03:01)

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