Investigation of the Relationships Between Perceived Qualities and Sound Parameters of Saxophone Reeds

Abstract

The perceived quality of cane reeds used on saxophones or clarinets may be very different from one reed to another even though the reeds have the same shape and strength. The aim of this work is to better understand the differences in the perceived quality of reeds by making use of acoustical measurements. A perceptual study, involving a panel of 10 musicians, was first conducted on a set of 20 reeds of the same strength. Each musician assessed each of the 20 reeds according to three descriptors: Brightness, Softness, and Global quality. Second, signal recordings during saxophone playing (saxophone playing by a musician in the laboratory, called in vivo measurements) were made of the pressures in a player's mouth, in the mouthpiece, and at the bell of the instrument. These measurements enable us to deduce specific acoustical variables, such as the threshold pressure or the spectral centroid of the notes. After an analysis of the perceptual and acoustical data (assessment of the agreement among the assessors and the main consensual differences between the reeds), correlations between the perceptual and acoustical data were performed. [...

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Minimal blowing pressure allowing periodic oscillations in a simplified reed musical instrument model: Bouasse-Benade prescription assessed through numerical continuation

“…In addition an animation showing the evolution of the bifurcation diagram as a function of the inharmonicity increasing from Inh = À0.05 to Inh = +0.05 is available from the link of footnote 1 . Most of the illustrations displayed in the figures are corresponding to a positive inharmonicity Inh, but the animation and the Figure 4 illustrate the fact that the behaviour is qualitavely the same for negative values of Inh.…”

“…It is assumed that part of the musician's judgement of ease of playing of a note is inversely related to the sounding resistance represented by the threshold blowing pressure. Support for this hypothesis is offered by measurements on the performing properties of saxophone reeds by [1]: a significant correlation was found between the soft-hard scale on which the sounding resistance of different reeds was judged by saxophonists and the threshold pressures measured in the mouths of the performers. A useful overview of the acoustics of reed and lip wind instruments can be found in books such as [2][3][4][5][6].…”

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“…For example, Gazangel [9] used a displacement sensor to measure the reed vibrational response during sound emission, computing and comparing parameters such as the threshold pressure and the spectral centroid. The same team also demonstrated how the reed is a critical component in sound production with a saxophone [10]. By measuring the correlation between perceptual and acoustical data of sound produced using 20 different reeds, they provided scientific data on how reed characteristics affect the sound produced.…”