Abstract
Some preliminary work has been done on the problem of understanding in detail the interaction between the vibrating clarinet reed and its associated vibrating air column. In the course of the work, a configuration of brass tubing with tone holes was found which is rather difficult to sound with a clarinet mouthpiece and reed and which produces a poor “stuffy” tone. The input impedance curve of the configuration does not appear to be sufficiently different from that of a conventional clarinet to explain this behavior. Measurements with an impedance tube showed that at the amplitudes associated with playing, nonlinear effects at the tone holes produce an increase in the acoustic resistance that lowers the Q of the system by about a factor of two. However, this also does not appear to explain the difficulty of sounding the configuration; it was found that the Q of a piece of tubing could be lowered by about a factor of two by lining the wall with an insert of emery cloth, yet the rough wall tube could be sounded about as easily as a smooth tube. It is hoped that understanding this configuration will help in understanding the behavior of the clarinet, so work is continuing. [Work supported by the National Science Foundation.]
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