Why are clarinet tone holes different sizes?
As background, the flute has tone holes that are mainly the same size: the three register/trill holes are small, but all the tone holes are the same size, with the exception of the three or four on the foot joint, which are slightly larger. There are several reasons. The clarinet is not cylindrical. Most of the lower joint is flaring and so, with the larger bore diameter, the holes have bigger diameter. But there are still variations in the cylindrical part. I think that the reason is this: if one can change both the size and the position, one has twice as many parameters to vary in order to get the instrument in tune.
Related Questions
- How are the many nationalities, and different looks of people in skin tone/hair texture/eye color and shape, explained if we are all sons/daughters of Adam?
- How do clarinet players adjust the resonances of their vocal tracts for different playing effects?
- How is the filter knob on the RAT distortion pedal different from the tone control on a guitar?
