[Dixielandjazz] Bechet's sarrusophone

[Paul Edgerton]

Larry Walton wrote:
> Does anyone know why the clarinet with it's straight bore jumps a 12th but
> the flute over blows at the octave with a straight bore also?

Yes, I do...


(Oh, you wanted the answer? OK then!)


A clarinet is acoustically a cylinder closed at the mouthpiece end. It
has a pressure anti node at the mouthpiece end so it produces only odd
partials. That is also why a stopped pipe produces a fundamental one
octave lower than an open pipe of the same length.
<http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/music/clarinet.html>

The hole in the lip plate of a flute means it has a pressure node at
the mouthpiece, so it produces both even and odd partials.

(Google is your friend)

-- Paul