Mondo Knows Facts
A clarinet jumps a twelfth when it overblows
Its cylindrical tube is closed at one end, so only odd harmonics sound Flutes and oboes, effectively open at both ends, overblow at the octave. The clarinet's missing even harmonics give it a hollow, woody tone. Register keys and the player's embouchure manage the transition. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
A flute has no reed at allThe player's air stream splits on the edge of the embouchure holeTimbre is the recipe of harmonicsThe same note on a flute and a violin differs only in its overtone strengthsA single note already contains a whole chordThe harmonic series stacks octave, fifth, fourth and third above the fundamentalAn oboe makes sound with two cane reedsThe reeds vibrate against each other, and the player shapes them by handA recorder is a whistle with finger holesThe player blows into a mouthpiece channel rather than over an edgeHarmonicas and accordions share a free reedA metal tongue vibrates through a close fitting slot rather than beating a tube
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Tags: woodwind, harmonics, physics
A clarinet jumps a twelfth when it overblows: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Its cylindrical tube is closed at one end, so only odd harmonics sound. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.