Abstract
The mouthpiece of a brass instrument such as the trumpet serves two important functions (among others): that of lowering the frequencies of the higher vibration modes so as to put them in tune, and that of increasing the input impedance of the higher modes so as to make them playable. Acoustically, the mouthpiece consists of a capacitance (the cup) in parallel with a resistance and inductance in series (the orifice and backbore). It has a resonance frequency of the order of 800 Hz. In the vicinity of the mouthpiece resonance, the impedance peaks of the trumpet tube and bell (without mouthpiece) have magnitudes of 200–300 Ω. When the mouthpiece is attached, the resonance frequencies of the combination are lowered to values for which the input impedances of the trumpet tube and bell are small. These low impedances in series with the mouthpiece orifice resistance result in input impedances for the whole instrument which are some 3–6 times the impedances without the mouthpiece. This impedance amplification is essential in order to make the higher modes playable. [Work supported by the NSF.]
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