Does anyone know why it is that although the lowest resonance frequency of a tenor sax is B flat 2, about 116Hz, the lowest playable note is B flat 3, ie 232 Hz or thereabouts? My reference for this is the series of articles by Joe Wolfe for the University of New South Wales, reference http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/saxophone/tenor/(add note name including its number).html which I was given by this excellent forum. The only difference I can see in the frequency response is that the higher of the above frequencies occurs with a slightly greater acoustic impedance than the lower frequency one does. It seems strange that such a small difference could give this effect. Any ideas, anyone? Has anyone ever played an octave below B flat 3 on a tenor?
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