Investigation on tonal and playability qualities of didgeridoos: Correlations with physical properties

Abstract

The quality of an instrument, perceived by a player, is usually separated into two fields, tonal and given possibilities by the instrument in terms of playability. For the didgeridoo, tonal quality is first linked to the spectral content of the emitted notes, a result of the oscillation of a complex system composed of the instrument, the lips and the player’s vocal tract. Is also related to the character of spatialization of the sounds which one sometimes associates with the semantic attribute of sound width or sound envelopment. The playability is attached to the playing facility but also to the various aptitudes of the instrument. Among those one finds the aptitude for the modulations, for the rhythmic effects, for the overblowing, for vocalization, the cries, etc. The air column resistance, the sound efficiency, and the sound dynamics are also linked to the playability. The study is carried out on a series of eight instruments chosen in a corpus of around 50 instruments. The study includes tests with instrumentalits, acoustical and geometrical measurements and analysis of the emitted sounds. Some correlations between the physical properties of the same instrument, the nature of the emitted spectrum and the quality will be presented.