Analysis of Tonguing and Blowing Actions During Clarinet Performance

Abstract

Articulation on the clarinet is achieved by a combination of precise actions taking place inside the player's mouth. With the aim to analyse the effects of tonguing and blowing actions during playing, several physical variables are measured and parameters related to articulation are studied. Mouth pressure, mouthpiece pressure and reed displacement are recorded in an experiment with clarinet players to evaluate the influence of the player's actions on the selected parameters and on the sound. The results show that different combinations of tongue and blowing actions are used during performance. Portato and legato playing show constant blowing throughout the musical phrase, which varies according to the dynamic level. In portato, short tongue-reed interaction is used homogeneously among players and playing conditions. In staccato playing, where the tongue-reed contact is longer, the mouth pressure is reduced significantly between notes. Such a mouth-pressure decrease might be used to stop the note in slow staccato playing. It is hereby shown that when the note is stopped by the action of the tongue both the attack and release transients are shorter compared to the case where the vibration of the reed is stopped by a decrease of mouth pressure.

The influence of the vocal tract on the attack transients in clarinet playing

“…In Pàmies-Vilà et al (2018), the authors analysed blowing and tonguing actions and their relationship to attack and release transients. Including the findings on the vocal tract influence on attack transients that are reported in the current study, a broader picture on articulation techniques can be established.…”

“…All players were over 18 years old (average of 23 years old) and had clarinet playing as their profession, with 7-20 years of experience. The results regarding the articulation exercises were presented in Pàmies-Vilà et al (2018). An analysis of the data captured with the musical piece is presented in this article.…”

“…Transient phenomena occur at the beginning and at the end of tones, when the amplitude of the oscillations varies. In single-reed woodwind instruments, transient phenomena have been extensively analysed both theoretically and experimentally (Almeida, Li, Smith, & Wolfe, 2017;Chatziioannou, Schmutzhard, Pàmies-Vilà, & Hofmann, 2019;Li, Almeida, Smith, & Wolfe, 2016;Pàmies-Vilà, Hofmann, & Chatziioannou, 2018). It has been found that attack and release transients play an important role on the timbre perception of instruments (Fletcher & Rossing, 1998), and their analysis contributes to the understanding of sound generation (Almeida et al, 2017).…”

Aerosol Generation from Different Wind Instruments

“…Comparatively, bass clarinet and bassoon with steep turnings (Fig. S8b) may result in stronger aerosol deposition loss, particularly under the intense pressure oscillation during the plays using articulated notes (Pà mies-Vilà et al, 2018). Such loss may offset the aerosol production enhancement induced by tongue movement, lowering the corresponding aerosol concentration at the outlets.…”

Multiple two-step oscillation regimes produced by the alto saxophone

“…To observe the signals produced by a wind instrument in playing situation, with a musician, an instrumented mouthpiece fitted with a reed displacement and pressure sensors can be used. Instrumented mouthpieces can help explain features of the produced sound, for instance spectral content on a saxophone (Guillemain et al, 2010) or transient descriptors on a clarinet (Pàmies-Vilà et al, 2018). They also provide a means to estimate some of the parameters of a physical model based on the dynamical behavior of the system (Muñoz Arancón et al, 2016).…”