thogoul
24th May 2006, 11:18 AM
the main question is: what's the difference?
-clarinet is a cylindrical tube (sometimes getting larger at the end but it doesn't change the acoustic)
-saxophone is a conical tube which enables all the harmonics to sound.
to remember, when we speak about harmonics or 'vibrating modes',we have:
.the fundamental (the key of the instrument)=first harmonic
.the octave=second harmonic
.the twelvth (let's say octave and half)=third harmonic
.then another octave=fourth harmonic
.after come lot's of high frequencies which I cannot explain their rules.
on a bamboo clarinet the reed's vibration combined with the cylindrical body
makes the second harmonic (octave from fondamental) disapear so in one register we have one and half octave to reach.
that's why bamboo clarinets have 9 toneholes (including the thumb) going
like this : f, 1tone,1tone,0.5tone,1tone (4holes on right hand)
1tone,1.5tone(reach octave),1,1.5,1(reach the twelvth) 5holes for left hand(the thumb hole is also the register hole;it means that you play higher notes by half covering it.)
for exemple a C clarinet : f=C ,D,E,F,G,A,C,D,F,G (you play first B and second E by half opening)
now on saxophone one register should be an octave.
I say should be because as bamboo is not naturally conical we put together different sections with bigger diameter so the conicity is cheated.
that's the point which make sax harder to build than clarinet with bamboo
as I am actually experiencing with saxophones I cannot give so much details
but I know that there is a great importance in the relation between the real length(L) of the instrument and the non existing(because cut)part of the cone (l) (which is cut)
553
so if 'l' is too long compared to 'L' then the vibration is not the one of a sax.
the first part of the work with bamboo sax then is to find a good design using at least 3 different pieces (one mouth piece,one body with the holes and one bigger end part)
as the reed gives all harmonics we can have the same holes position as a recorder (6+thumb) but most of bamboo sax seem to have 8 holes because the real register is between an octave and a twelvth)
so it would give 1t,1t,0.5t,1t,1t,1t,1t,1t ( not so sure about the system)
another point is the 'timbre' color of the sax sound which is supposely more 'agressive' than the clarinet.to get this attack richer in high harmonics we should reduce the volume of the mouthpiece by downing the 'roof' (this piece we cut and paste for more mouth confort)
I am not enough experienced on sax making so it would be great if more advanced makers give here more technical explanations.
(please Angel give us some lessons!)
if you want to have a look on my clarinets, I put pictures in member's gallery.
please correct me when I don't use the proper word for technical description (I sometimes know them in french or english or spanish so I might make translation mistakes!)
now I hope this thread open a new discussion on this wonderfull work:
bamboo reed instruments.
-clarinet is a cylindrical tube (sometimes getting larger at the end but it doesn't change the acoustic)
-saxophone is a conical tube which enables all the harmonics to sound.
to remember, when we speak about harmonics or 'vibrating modes',we have:
.the fundamental (the key of the instrument)=first harmonic
.the octave=second harmonic
.the twelvth (let's say octave and half)=third harmonic
.then another octave=fourth harmonic
.after come lot's of high frequencies which I cannot explain their rules.
on a bamboo clarinet the reed's vibration combined with the cylindrical body
makes the second harmonic (octave from fondamental) disapear so in one register we have one and half octave to reach.
that's why bamboo clarinets have 9 toneholes (including the thumb) going
like this : f, 1tone,1tone,0.5tone,1tone (4holes on right hand)
1tone,1.5tone(reach octave),1,1.5,1(reach the twelvth) 5holes for left hand(the thumb hole is also the register hole;it means that you play higher notes by half covering it.)
for exemple a C clarinet : f=C ,D,E,F,G,A,C,D,F,G (you play first B and second E by half opening)
now on saxophone one register should be an octave.
I say should be because as bamboo is not naturally conical we put together different sections with bigger diameter so the conicity is cheated.
that's the point which make sax harder to build than clarinet with bamboo
as I am actually experiencing with saxophones I cannot give so much details
but I know that there is a great importance in the relation between the real length(L) of the instrument and the non existing(because cut)part of the cone (l) (which is cut)
553
so if 'l' is too long compared to 'L' then the vibration is not the one of a sax.
the first part of the work with bamboo sax then is to find a good design using at least 3 different pieces (one mouth piece,one body with the holes and one bigger end part)
as the reed gives all harmonics we can have the same holes position as a recorder (6+thumb) but most of bamboo sax seem to have 8 holes because the real register is between an octave and a twelvth)
so it would give 1t,1t,0.5t,1t,1t,1t,1t,1t ( not so sure about the system)
another point is the 'timbre' color of the sax sound which is supposely more 'agressive' than the clarinet.to get this attack richer in high harmonics we should reduce the volume of the mouthpiece by downing the 'roof' (this piece we cut and paste for more mouth confort)
I am not enough experienced on sax making so it would be great if more advanced makers give here more technical explanations.
(please Angel give us some lessons!)
if you want to have a look on my clarinets, I put pictures in member's gallery.
please correct me when I don't use the proper word for technical description (I sometimes know them in french or english or spanish so I might make translation mistakes!)
now I hope this thread open a new discussion on this wonderfull work:
bamboo reed instruments.