It's nice having both instruments in hand (and mouth). I got my soprano out today, and was actually amazed at how similar they sound overall. But there are differences.
I took a shot of the two instruments lined up body to body, and what was most striking was the hole positions.
The finger holes correspond to the big pearl touches on the sop. Look at how very much lower down the body the sop holes are. You can't see under the covered keys, but the holes are MUCH larger as well. Also look at how spread out the tárogató holes are compared to the sop. It is a stretch, especially with the ring keys, on the lower joint.
The small holes, high up on the body, are the major reason, I think, that the tárogató can be kind of wild intonationally. I forget the exact reasons and formulae--maybe Lance remembers--but small holes are much more prone to changing pitch with changes in blowing pressure. For instance, for the C2 short tube note, the same amount of jaw dropping will lower the sop note a bit less than a semitone, as compared to a bit more than a full tone on the tárogató. The longer tube notes are not as bad, but one has to be careful to be in the right place when moving from the lower second octave to the upper first octave...The upper second octave can be wild, which is why it is nice, when possible, to use harmonic overblown fingerings that are locked into longer tube lengths up there at the top.
Another interesting thing is the cone diameter. The top of that old Conn soprano is 7.95mm, whereas the tárogató at the same position is 10mm. That is a huge difference, and translates to a big difference in cone angle, since the lower end diameters are similar.
I took a shot of the two instruments lined up body to body, and what was most striking was the hole positions.
The finger holes correspond to the big pearl touches on the sop. Look at how very much lower down the body the sop holes are. You can't see under the covered keys, but the holes are MUCH larger as well. Also look at how spread out the tárogató holes are compared to the sop. It is a stretch, especially with the ring keys, on the lower joint.
The small holes, high up on the body, are the major reason, I think, that the tárogató can be kind of wild intonationally. I forget the exact reasons and formulae--maybe Lance remembers--but small holes are much more prone to changing pitch with changes in blowing pressure. For instance, for the C2 short tube note, the same amount of jaw dropping will lower the sop note a bit less than a semitone, as compared to a bit more than a full tone on the tárogató. The longer tube notes are not as bad, but one has to be careful to be in the right place when moving from the lower second octave to the upper first octave...The upper second octave can be wild, which is why it is nice, when possible, to use harmonic overblown fingerings that are locked into longer tube lengths up there at the top.
Another interesting thing is the cone diameter. The top of that old Conn soprano is 7.95mm, whereas the tárogató at the same position is 10mm. That is a huge difference, and translates to a big difference in cone angle, since the lower end diameters are similar.
