Clarinet
Mark C Ely, Amy E Van Deuren · 2009
Abstract Acoustical Properties: The acoustical and physical tonal characteristics of an instrument that affect its sound quality. The clarinet is cylindrical, made of wood (sometimes plastic or metal), and has a key design similar to other wood-wind instruments. Tone is produced by the vibration of a single reed attached to a mouthpiece. These design characteristics result in a sound that accentuates odd partials (1, 3, 5, and so on). For this reason, the clarinet overblows the twelfith rather than the octave when the register key is depressed. For example, the Fingering that produces a middle C-natural (T, 1-2-3) without the register key will produce a G-natural above the staff when the register key is depressed. Only the First (fundamental) and third partials (the clarinet only produces the odd partials in the harmonic series) are used for the majority of the normal playing range. See also Acoustical Basics, page 3; Construction and Design, page 211; Harmonics, page 32 Key Questions A: Acoustically, both the clarinet and the saxophone are tubes closed at one end (i.e., the mouthpiece end) and open at the other end (i.e., the bell). However, the clarinet is generally cylindrically shaped and the saxophone is conically shaped. Predominantly, it is this design difference that affects partial strength, and ultimately, instrument timbre. The result of this design difference is that the saxophone produces the second partial (an octave)when overblown, whereas the clarinet produces the third partial (a twelfith) when overblown.