Second register production on the clarinet: Nonlinear losses in the register hole as a decisive physical phenomenon.

This study investigates the role of localized nonlinear losses in the register hole of a clarinet in producing second-register notes. First, an experiment is conducted to study the ability of the opening of a register hole to trigger a jump in oscillatory regime from the first to the second register. A cylindrical tube is drilled with holes of increasing diameter: five at the register hole level and five at the thumb hole level of a B-flat clarinet.

The bassoon tonehole lattice: Links between the open and closed holes and the radiated sound spectrum.

The acoustics of the bassoon has been the subject of relatively few studies compared with other woodwind instruments. One reason for this may lie in its complicated resonator geometry, which includes irregularly spaced toneholes with chimney heights ranging from 3 to 31 mm. The current article evaluates the effect of the open and closed tonehole lattice (THL) on the acoustic response of the bassoon resonator.

Multiple two-step oscillation regimes produced by the alto saxophone.

A saxophone mouthpiece fitted with sensors is used to observe the oscillation of a saxophone reed, as well as the internal acoustic pressure, allowing to identify qualitatively different oscillating regimes. In addition to the standard two-step regime, where the reed channel successively opens and closes once during an oscillation cycle, the experimental results show regimes featuring two closures of the reed channel per cycle, as well as inverted regimes, where the reed closure episode is longer than the open episode. These regimes are well-known on bowed string instruments and some were already described on the Uilleann pipes.

The effect of the cutoff frequency on the sound production of a clarinet-like instrument.

The input impedance of woodwind instruments is characterized by at least two bands due to the lattice of open toneholes, a stop band at low frequencies, and a pass band at higher frequencies where the acoustic energy is able to propagate past the first open tonehole and into the lattice. The cutoff frequency that separates these two bands is an approximate value that is determined by the geometry of the lattice of open toneholes. It is expected that the frequency at which the stop band transitions to the pass band affects the sound produced by the instrument, but it is not known how this frequency affects the competition between self-sustained oscillation and radiation.