Analysis of Flute Control Parameters: A Comparison Between a Novice and an Experienced Flautist

Abstract

The sound produced by flutes depends not only on the physical characteristics of the instrument butalso on the control exerted by the musician. The latter is very important in some instruments of the flute family,especially in those where the air jet is shaped with the lip of the player.Some of the most relevant parameters controlled by the flautist, such as the distance from the lips to the sharp edge, the shape of the lips hole and the speed of the jet, are experimentally measured in this paper.Data produced by an experienced and anovice flautist are collected, analyzed and compared. Subjects are studied under normal musical playing conditions, playing phrases made out of simple musical intervals with subjective dynamics. Images of performer'sl ips are taken together with measurements of the blowing pressure and the sound radiated by the instrument. Data analysis shows remarkable differences between the twos ubjects. The optimized coordination of several parameters in order to obtain a desired musical response, coupling between performer'smouth and the instrument, as well as the efficient use of the available resources are some of the differences observed. PACS no. 43.75 740 ©S.Hirzel Verlag · EAA de la Cuadra et al.: Flute control parameters ACTA ACUSTICA UNITED WITH ACUSTICA Vol. 94 (2008)

From Breath to Sound: Linking Respiratory Mechanics to Aeroacoustic Sound Production in Flutes

“…We discuss here the similarities and differences between our results and previous studies on control parameters in flute playing [1,18,20,39]. The flautist has adirect control overt he lip-to-edge distance W and the mouth pressure P m .Both parameters have adirect impact on dimensionless jet velocity.D uring diatonic scales, our results showahigher mouth pressure P m range (300 to 1600 Pa) than in Montgermont et al [39] data (from 150 to 1000 Pa) butr esults of both studies fall under the estimation of mouth pressure relationship to frequencya sd escribed by Fletcher,i .e.…”

“…The interaction between mouth pressure P m and lip opening area A lip determines jet flow Q j .F lows reported by Cuadra [20] and Montgermont [39] are smaller than the ones we recorded in Montréal. We compiled flowvalues from 100 ml/s to 1l/s.…”

“…The mouth pressures from Paris were similar to values from previous studies [13,18,20,39] and fall under the description of 0.8f [18]. The measurements made in Montréal showed some underestimation especially during the playing of the repertoire pieces.…”

“…Flute operation has been discussed in different papers [16,17,18,19]. The main aspects are summarized here, based on the description in Cuadra et al [20]. The acoustic oscillation in aflute can be described as the result of the coupling between the hydrodynamic modes of aj et and the acoustic modes of ar esonator.T he pipe resonances depend on its geometrical characteristics.…”

Effects of Changes in the Bore Shape and the Labium Position in a Txistu

“…Manya spects of the acoustics of wind instruments are well understood [1,2,3] with flute acoustics having been studied in detail [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The sound of a txistu is produced when the player blows through the metal windway.Atthe windway exit, afree jet is formed by flow separation and travels until it hits the metal labium.…”