MUSICAL ACOUSTICS WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS The Science of Sound

MUSICAL ACOUSTICS WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS The Science of Sound, Chapter 12 The Physics of Musical Instruments, Chapters 15 and 16 www. phys. unsw. edu. au/music/

WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS

HOW A CLARINET WORKS A pulse of excess pressure propagates down the pipe (a, b) and is reflected as a pulse of underpressure (c, d), which returns to help draw the reed valve shut. In (e)-(h) the process repeats with this negative pulse, which reflects as a positive pressure pulse.

TWO TYPES OF PRESSURE CONTROLLED VALVES FLOW VELOCITY vs AIR PRESSURE IN A CLARINET

CLARINET - RANGE OF PRESSURE

CYLINDRICAL PIPE RESONANCES CONICAL PIPE RESONANCES

WHAT ABOUT TRUNCATED CONES? ARE THE RESONANCES HARMONIC?

INPUT IMPEDANCE OF THE CLARINET EFFECT OF REGISTER HOLES 3 REGISTERS OF A CLARINET

EFFECTS OF REGISTER HOLES

WAVEFORM THREE NOTES ON A CLARINET SPECTRUM

LATTICE OF OPEN TONE HOLES CUTOFF FREQUENCY

EFFECT OF REED STIFFNESS

THE SAXOPHONE IS A “CLOSED PIPE”

CONTRABASS SAXOPHONE LARGEST WOODWIND INSTRUMENT

WAVEFORM OBOE SPECTRUM

BASSOON

BASSOON

EARLY WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS

BAGPIPES HIGHLAND BAGPIPES

NORTHUMBRIAN BAGPIPE

DIRECTIONAL RADIATION

From J. Meyer Acoustics and the Performance of Music (Verlag das Musikinstrument, Frankfurt am Main, 1978

TYPICAL BLOWING PRESSURES IN WOODWINDS TYPICAL BLOWING PRESSURES ACROSS THE MAIN COMPASS OF CLARINET ALTO SAXOPHONE, OBOE, AND BASSOON, FOR PIANO AND FORTE PLAYING Fuks and Sundberg, 1996

SPECTRAL ENVELOPE OF (IDEALIZED) WOODWIND

FLOW CONTROL OF AIR BLOWN ACROSS A BOTTLE AND A FLUTE CONSTRUCTION OF A FLUTE

PRESSURE STANDING WAVES IN A FLUTE IF THE CORK IS PULLED OUT, ALL NOTES ARE FLATTENED BUT UPPER MODES ARE AFFECTED MORE (BECAUSE THE EFFECTIVE POSITION OF THE PRESSURE MODE AT THE BLOWING END IS BEYOND THE CORK)

BLOWING PRESSURE USED BY EXPERIENCED FLUTE PLAYER FOR NOTES OF DIFFERENT PITCHES LIP OPENING WIDTH AND HEIGHT USED BY EXPERIENCED FLUTE PLAYERS TO PRODUCE NOTES AT DIFFERENT PITCHES AND VOLUME LEVELS

FLUTE OPENING TONE HOLES REGISTER HOLES

TYPICAL SPECTRA FOR LOUD AND SOFT NOTES OF VARIOUS PITCHES PLAYED BY 4 DIFFERENT FLUTISTS. THE SAME REFERENCE LEVEL IS USED IN EACH CASE Fletcher, 1975

BAROQUE RECORDER TYPICAL FINGERING CHART FOR A BAROQUE RECORDER

BLOWING PRESSURE FLUTE, RECORDER