Books › The instruments of the modern orchestra & early records of the precursors of the violin family, with over 500 illustrations and plates;, 1910 › scan 140
Scan 140
The instruments of the modern orchestra & early records of the precursors of the violin family, with over 500 illustrations and plates;, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 90. See the scan on archive.org.
1cup-shaped mouthpieces, and it is one in which the length of tube is varied by means of lateral holes and keys.
3Construction. The ophicleide consists of a conical wooden or brass tube, widening out gradually to a funnel-shaped bell, which is vertical; the tube is doubled upon itself once, ending at the narrow end in a tight coil, from which protrudes a straight piece bearing the mouthpiece, which is a hemispherical convex cup. The modern ophicleides have eleven keys, which are quite easy to finger.
5Production of Sound. The lips stretched across the mouthpiece act as vibrating reeds, or as the vocal cords in the larynx. The bell would give out the fundamental C, but that, as on the horn, it is practically impossible to produce it. The following series of harmonics is obtained by overblowing, that is by increased tension of the lips and pressure of the breath, which proportionately increase the acuteness of the pitch. Most ophicleides are in C; the first hole being left open lowers the pitch of the instrument a semitone to the key of B major, the second hole being kept closed raises the pitch a semitone from C to D flat; the third hole when closed raises the pitch to D and so on, with all the other holes, giving thirty-eight semitones. The method is similar to the positions on the violin and on the slide trombone. This instrument is capable of the most accurate intonation.
7Harmonic Series (the same for every key to which the instrument is tuned).
9The B flat, which is always a little too flat, and the F, which is always a little too sharp, can be obtained strictly in tune by closing the F key for the F, and the E flat key for the
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