[shootingstar]

As we all know, clarinet is the only axe that sax players double on that is not built in octaves. Would it be possible to modify a clarinet to play in octaves and thus make doubling a lot easier? What would have to be done? I hope someone with a stronger background in acoustics than I have will respond!

 

[Rondalo]

If I remember correctly, the clarinet's accoustics do not include any even harmonics (which gives it its distinctive sound). There is no octave in the sound to jump to. If you change the accoustics to include even harmonics, you get a saxophone.

 

[daigle65]

A clarinet overblows at the twelfth because it's a closed pipe cylinder.
In order to make it overblow at the octave you would have to make it a cone, so you would then have .....a saxophone.

 

[clarnibass]

In order to make it overblow at the octave you would have to make it a cone, so you would then have .....a saxophone.

Or open at both ends, like a flute.

 

[trice]

The 3 above posts just covered it Thread closed.

 

[Enviroguy]

The 3 above posts just covered it Thread closed.

Only if you've studies acoustics.

For those that haven't, basic acoustics covers what happens to sound when propagated through different basic shapes. These include open and closed cylinders, cones and others. The sound produced in a clarinet closely resembles the of a cylinder with a closed end. When you open up a small port (register key) to make the pitch jump to the next harmonic (secondary pitch accompanying the main pitch), the main pitch jumps more than one octave. To fix this, boehm (western modern) clarinet makers had to put more than one octave in each register. And thus, playin' a G ain't playin' a G anymore when you hit the register key. :bluewink:

 

[ericdano]

Lame. Seriously man, clarinet is not that hard. Go get an EWI if you want to "double" but don't actually want to learn the double.

 

[shootingstar]

Lame. Seriously man, clarinet is not that hard. Go get an EWI if you want to "double" but don't actually want to learn the double.

Everytime I put my toe in the water here at Sax On The Web a poster like you writes something rude and renforces my decision to just be a lurker and not a contributor. Have a nice life ericdano. It's good to know you are an accomplished reed man and can play all the doubles with equal aplumb. Oh wait, I don't think I've seen your name in the credits of any recordings!!!

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

"The 3 above posts just covered it Thread closed."

Almost. (But threads are only closed by admin)

The three posts cover the overblowing a 12th rather than an octave, and the special timbre that comes from having only odd overtones, but there is another small factor that affects tone. Unlike a saxophone and (Boehm) flute, the clarinet has quite long, narrow tone hole chimneys for its bore size. This is even more pronounced for oboe and bassoon. So a conical clarinet would turn into a saxophone with a somewhat different tone, perhaps having some elements of oboe tone, although much of the oboe tone would also be caused by the double reed.

 

[martinm5862]

No.

 

[Little Sax]

[...] So a conical clarinet would turn into a saxophone with a somewhat different tone, perhaps having some elements of oboe tone, although much of the oboe tone would also be caused by the double reed.

Tarogato

 

[shootingstar]

Tarogato

Very interesting!

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

No.

Replying to what?

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Tarogato

Indeed. I forgot its name.

 

[daigle65]

Very interesting!

The tone of the Tarogato is closer to that of the saxophone than the clarinet.

 

[Tom Heimer]

It has been explained why it can't be done. If it could, think about losing the challenge of doing all those fast octave skips!