Even harmonics appear in clarinet sound despite its closed cylindrical resonator

Evidence

Figure 4.24 shows waveforms and spectra for the note middle C played on a clarinet and a tenor saxophone. The saxophone spectrum contains all harmonics since its resonator is conical. The clarinet spectrum exhibits the odd harmonics clearly as its resonator is a cylindrical pipe closed at one end (see Figure 4.18), but there is also energy clearly visible in some of the even harmonics. Although the resonator itself does not support the even modes, the spectrum of the sound source does contain all harmonics (the saxophone and the clarinet are both single-reed — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1228

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Connects to the standing claim thread about figure-ground/signal mapping and why the source-resonator split matters for sound analysis.

Related

• The source excites all harmonics even when a resonator only supports odd ones. (similarity 0.90)
• Reed excitation injects all harmonics even when resonator rejects even modes (similarity 0.90)
• Resonator shape determines which harmonics a wind instrument emphasizes (similarity 0.88)
• The clarinet lacks even harmonics at low tones but approaches odd-even parity higher up (similarity 0.86)
• Clarinet even harmonics are attenuated, not absent, from the spectrum. (similarity 0.85)
• Spectra of only odd harmonics produce a clarinet-like timbre (similarity 0.83)
• Even harmonics in clarinet tones are suppressed but not absent from the spectrum (similarity 0.83)
• A stopped cylindrical pipe supports only odd-numbered modes (similarity 0.82)
• Cylindrical stopped pipes support only odd-numbered modes, making instruments sound an octave lower (similarity 0.82)
• A cylindrical half-open tube missing all even partials produces the clarinet’s hollow tone (similarity 0.81)
• Mixed-end tubes resonate only at odd multiples of the fundamental frequency (similarity 0.80)
• Odd-numbered partials alone make a tone sound hollow or nasal (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• A closed cylindrical resonator filters sound to odd harmonics #contradicts (0.95) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1228