The clarinet timbre as an attribute of expressiveness

Philippe Guillemain (1) , Robin T. Helland (1) , Richard Kronland-Martinet (1) , Sølvi Ystad (1)

1 LMA - Laboratoire de Mécanique et d'Acoustique [Marseille]

In this paper we analyze clarinet sounds produced by a synthesis model that simulates the physical behavior of a real clarinet, in order to find a relationship between the clarinet timbre and the interpretation. Sounds have been obtained by varying two important control parameters of the synthesis model, namely the blowing pressure and the aperture of the reed channel. These parameters are also used to control real reed instruments. Four different timbre descriptors have further been applied to the sounds in order to investigate the timbre evolution as a function of these control parameters. The validity of the synthesis model has been verified thanks to an experimental setup with an artificial mouth, making it possible to generate and record sounds from a real clarinet while controlling the pressure and aperture of the reed channel. A relationship between the timbre and the physical behavior of the instrument has been found thanks to the physical synthesis model.

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Philippe Guillemain, Robin T. Helland, Richard Kronland-Martinet, Sølvi Ystad. The clarinet timbre as an attribute of expressiveness. Uffe Kock Wiil. Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval, 3310, Springer Verlag, pp.246-259, 2005, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 978-3-540-24458-5. ⟨10.1007/978-3-540-31807-1_19⟩. ⟨hal-00088056⟩