As a consequence of the roughly cylindrical bore and the reed tone generator, the clarinet features only odd partials. Are the original (straight tube) H1 and H2 so low that I can't play them? My chops can hold a steady tone all the way down to E! The H1 and H2 are lower than that?ĭo I understand right that with pedal C, the tuba is not vibrating the C 32.7 hz, itself, even though I'm buzzing 32.7 hz? What does "relying on the overtones" mean exactly? The tuba is sympathetically resonating the higher harmonics, yes, but I sure do hear C, 32.7 hz.ĭonn wrote:Among band instruments, the "closed cylinder" model applies only to the clarinet family. So if C two ledger lines below the bass clef staff is the original H3 of a straight tube (now H2), can I play the original H1 and H2? I can get my tuba cranking on F, 4 ledger lines down (what we call a "false tone") and C (what we call a "pedal tone"), but those are not the original (straight tube) H1 and H2. Pedal tones are called for occasionally in advanced brass repertoire, particularly in that of the trombone and especially the bass trombone. The resulting tone relies heavily on overtones for its perception, but in the hands of a skilled player, pedal tones can be controlled and can sound characteristic to the instrument.
#Trumpet pedal tones series#
The higher resonances of the new series help the lips vibrate at the fundamental frequency and allow the pitch to sound. The new fundamental can be played, however, as a pedal tone. The original fundamental is not raised all the way to the new fundamental pitch, and the original third harmonic becomes the new second harmonic. The member not present in the new series is the fundamental. This new series has all but one of its members present, instead of only the odd members. The resulting set of pitches is a new harmonic series altogether. The bell significantly raises all pitches in the series, and the mouthpiece limits the amount to which higher harmonics are raised.
This set of pitches is too sparse to be musically useful for brass instruments therefore, the bells and mouthpieces of brasses are crafted to adjust these pitches.
Cylindrical brasses do not naturally vibrate at this frequency.Ī closed cylinder (tubas are closed since our mouths our on one end) vibrates at only the odd members of its harmonic series. Its name comes from the pedals of a pipe organ. A pedal tone has the pitch of its harmonic series' fundamental tone. Pedal tones are special notes in the harmonic series of cylindrical-bore brass instruments. I put in bold the parts that I find especially tragic to my previous conceptions. It sums up concisely what I'm finding on Physics websites as well. But check out the Wikipedia article I've copied and pasted below. I would have told the students that my pedal C, 32.7 hz, is the fundamental, Harmonic 1 (H1), for the 16 ft tube. In preparing to help a Physics teacher teach the harmonic series with my tuba, I'm finding that I have some misconceptions about the physics of the tuba. I would be grateful for your explanations.