Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2023-08-09 10:16
Quote:
... there is nothing prior to the reed/mouthpiece that has any bearing on the sound at all.
Though I may not have any real evidence against that statement, I still don't feel fully convinced about it.
Perhaps the mere oral cavity size alone doesn't play a role, but how about the vibrating air column from the bottom of our lungs up to the reed/mouthpiece - with all its "surroundings" (different kind of body tissues, flesh, bones, bodily cavities, etc)?
That there really is a vibrating air column also behind the mouthpiece may itself be beyond doubt - but if not, it can be easily felt by placing a hand against the cheek while playing a first register note (at least from open g downward). Thus similarly as we can feel also the vibrating air column inside our clarinet by our fingertips on the open toneholes.
I think most of us believe our sound quality is at least to some extent influenced by such factors as the shape of our mouthpiece's baffle, throat and chamber, as well as the bore design, body material and wall thickness, etc, of our clarinet. At least to me it would thus not be too far fetched to assume that our bodily constitution could affect the air column behind the mouthpiece similarly. Maybe by similar mechanisms that gives each of us our distinctive speaking voice, in most cases easily distinguishable from others - also despite an otherwise similar outward bodily appearance (though I personally wouldn't go as far as assuming a nice voice itself would translate also to a nice clarinet tone)?
I'm also thinking about what I've heard from at least a couple of people who have heard Karl Leister playing on a French system clarinet. They were struck by his tone being his "usual one", as on his German system clarinets. Mr Leister certainly has a most distinctive tone, and though some may describe it as typical "German", at least I haven't heard anyone capable of fully reproducing it - either on German or French system clarinets (and I believe quite many have attempted that, myself included). If tone quality were solely about the combinations of air and embouchure, I wouldn't think reproducing Mr Leister's tone could be that hard (even though there are of course a multitude of such combinations).
Could it thus be that what affects the air column before the mouthpiece has even a greater effect on tone, than what affects it past the reed/mouthpiece?
I readily admit that my arguments are probably at a level of only anecdotal evidence, but this is how my thoughts go.
Comments?
Post Edited (2023-08-09 12:36)
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