It is convenient that in English the word ‘odd’ can refer to both numbers and an unusual or unexpected state.

The clarinet’s odd harmonics are extra odd – whether this comes down to end correction of the tube or a consequence of organic material or the amount of metal attached to it (or all three) is for someone far cleverer than I to say.

What I can’t believe I’ve never done before is compare the two side by side. I wanted to demonstrate this for some students today and thought I’d post it here for your education and general amusement. So what you’ll hear is the computer playing each odd harmonic in order (on the clarinet’s low E) and then me playing each harmonic straight after. It gets spicy.

All I’m doing here is maintaining the same fingering – I add the register key to go from the low E to the B above, but after that the fingering stays exactly the same, I’m just playing through harmonics on the B fingering – much as a brass player would do.

This is hugely related to the technique of playing spectral multiphonics and highly recommended by me for practising if you would like to improve your spectral multiphonics and your altissimo register!