Abstract
In self-sustained instruments, starting transients are important timbral characteristics that help identify the instrument and the playing style. Often, the oscillation starts as a growing exponential. This study investigates the starting amplitude of this exponential for the clarinet. After a rapid tongue release, the reed quickly returns to its equilibrium position. The sudden change in aperture produces an abrupt change in both the airflow into the mouthpiece and the mouthpiece pressure. This perturbation travels along the bore and reflects at the open end. Returning to the mouthpiece with slight attenuation, the perturbation can be amplified by the reed acting as an active element-effectively a negative resistance. When the reed release time exceeds the time for sound to travel twice the bore length, the airflow and pressure wave into the bore via the aperture are superposed over their own returning reflection. Measurements of reed motion and mouthpiece pressures during reed release yield values that are used in a model to calculate waveforms showing similarities to those observed experimentally. The initial amplitude decreases with increasing reed release time, though not always monotonically. It can become very small in special cases due to synchronisation between the initial pulse and its reflection.
Highlights
Attacks or initial transients are an important part of wind instrument performance and expression (e.g., Brymer, 1977; Thurston, 1977; Gingras, 2004; Sullivan, 2006)
The present authors showed that the transient includes a stage during which the oscillation in the resonator grows at an exponential rate and measured how the rate of this growth depends on blowing pressure and lip force (Li et al, 2016b)
Controlled initial reed displacements over a range of accelerations show that the initial pressure pulse produced
Summary
Attacks or initial transients are an important part of wind instrument performance and expression (e.g., Brymer, 1977; Thurston, 1977; Gingras, 2004; Sullivan, 2006). The present authors showed that the transient includes a stage during which the oscillation in the resonator grows at an exponential rate and measured how the rate of this growth depends on blowing pressure and lip force (Li et al, 2016b). This paradigm can be extended to situations when the control parameters vary during the transient, producing a note with a varying exponential rate (Bergeot et al, 2014). A sudden change in the rate of increase of the blowing pressure is sometimes expected to cause a discontinuity in the amplitude of the sound (Almeida et al, 2015)
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