Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments [1st ed. 2019] 978-3-030-19174-0, 978-3-030-19175-7

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi
Introduction (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 1-6
Organologic Description of Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 7-123
Front Matter ....Pages 125-125
Wood Species for Reed-Driven Instruments—Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon and for Baroque Flute (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 127-166
Physical, Mechanical and Acoustical Properties of Cane for Reeds (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 167-265
Metallic Materials for Lip Driven and Air Jet Driven Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 267-286
Fibrous Auxiliary Materials—Felt, Cork, Paperboard (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 287-310
Organic Auxiliary Materials—Leather and Parchment (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 311-334
Front Matter ....Pages 335-335
Resonant Air Column in Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 337-358
Effect of Wall Material on Vibration Modes of Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 359-424
Effects of Bore Shape and Tone Holes (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 425-441
Methods for Measuring the Acoustic Properties of Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 443-472
Front Matter ....Pages 473-473
Manufacturing of Metallic Tubes for Wind Musical Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 475-525
Manufacturing of Tubes and Pipes in Wood (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 527-558
Manufacturing of the Reeds for Reed Driven Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 559-577
Manufacturing and Functions of Pads and Keys for Woodwind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 579-592
Digital Fabrication of Some Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 593-613
Front Matter ....Pages 615-615
Procedures Used for Cleaning Metallic Wind Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 617-636
Degradation of Organ Pipes and of Brass Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 637-678
Restoration and Conservation of Metallic Wind Musical Instruments (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 679-706
Restoration of Pipe Organs (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 707-786
Marble, The Nondegradable Material for Pipe Organ (Voichita Bucur)....Pages 787-800
Back Matter ....Pages 801-819

Citation preview

Voichita Bucur

Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments

Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments

Voichita Bucur

Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments

123

Voichita Bucur School of Science RMIT University Melbourne, VIC, Australia

ISBN 978-3-030-19174-0 ISBN 978-3-030-19175-7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19175-7

(eBook)

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Neville H. Fletcher (1930–2017) eminent Australian physicist, educator and distinguished scholar in musical acoustics

Preface

Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments follows my previous book published by Springer in 2016 entitled Handbook of Materials for String Musical Instruments. As I explained in the preface of that book, the idea of connecting the science of materials with the characteristics of materials used for musical instruments became a reality following my long conversations in 2011 with Dr. Grahame Smith, who at that time directed the CSIRO—Materials Science Laboratory in Clayton (located near Melbourne, Australia) and where I was Senior Visiting Scientist. At that time, we talked about a very general project comprising three volumes. The first volume related to the materials for string musical instruments, the second volume for wind musical instruments and the third volume for percussion instruments. Because of the span of the subject, we decided to limit the content of these books to the musical instruments used in symphony orchestras. Therefore, the present book on materials for wind musical instruments refers to the following families of instruments: flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone and brass instruments—trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba. The evolution of wind instrument construction determined the increasing complexity of a symphony orchestra from the seventeenth century to modern times. Instruments of the orchestra grew continuously reaching a pinnacle with Romantic western music, in which wind instruments were particularly featured. Professor Heath Lees from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, an eminent specialist in Wagner’s music, in his book Mallarmé and Wagner: Music and Poetic Language described the wind instruments of the Romantic orchestra. “In the orchestra’s landscape of effects, flutes were clear and pure in tone, often related to angelic context, or more abstractly to the spirituality itself. In contrast with the open -breathed sound production of the flute, the clarinet’s single—reed activity appeared somewhat heavier, its purity of tone more highly coloured and seductive, and was usually reserved for sensual scenes or ideas. The excitability of the oboe’s double reed implies an excessively emotional quality, cloying or plaintive.

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Preface

Of the brass instruments, the trumpets were inevitably martial or heroic, while the horns were traditionally hunting instruments and therefore sounded instantly pastoral. Trombones were normally kept for special, brass choir moments, the required regal or religious solemnity”. Historical investigation of the evolution of wind musical instruments, which goes from iconography to restoration and conservation can explain the improvement of their sound quality. Instrument makers employed the most appropriate technology of their era. The economic and production changes which occurred in different periods allow us to better understand the evolution of wind instruments. Therefore, this book presents the state of the art in the field of the properties and characteristics of materials for wind musical instruments in classical symphony orchestras, also giving an overview of their manufacturing and of the methodology for testing their acoustical quality. My work for this volume was made possible thanks to my association with RMIT University, in Melbourne, with the School of Science, Acoustic Research Group directed by Prof. John Davy. He very kindly accommodated me in his laboratory. My new position as adjunct professor at RMIT University from 2016, allowed me to have access to the library of this venerable institution and to the significant logistics required in writing this book over more than four years. I am very grateful to Prof. John Davy for creating excellent conditions for the completion of my task in writing this book. The manuscript of this book was technically revised by Dr. Grahame Smith and Prof. Neville Fletcher. After his retirement from his position at CSIRO, Dr. Grahame Smith continued with infectious enthusiasm to be, as I mentioned, a reviewer of this volume. The manuscript has 21 chapters and evolved in three stages: the first draft, the second draft and finally the third version submitted to the publisher of about thousand pages, which in total means effectively, about three thousand pages. I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Grahame Smith for his support over so many years, during the evolution of this manuscript. Professor Neville Fletcher (1930–2017)—Australian National University, Canberra, reviewed almost all of the manuscript for this book, doing an enormous amount of work in reading and commenting on the manuscript. Unfortunately, and vary sadly, the vicissitudes of life do not allow him to see this book published. As I mentioned in the preface of my previous book on string musical instruments, I owe Prof. Neville Fletcher a great debt of gratitude for his enthusiastic contribution, his generosity and encouragement offered to me over the years writing this manuscript. This book is dedicated to his memory. I am also very grateful to Mr. Len Tosolini for proofreading the manuscript of this book. My long-standing colleague in musical acoustics, Dr. Jean Marie Heinrich enriched this book giving me access to his very big data base on Arundo donax and reeds making, allowing me to explain the importance of rigorous selection of cane for reeds and presenting detailed results concerning the variability of this natural material. He also revised many chapters, making comments on the organology of the bassoon and oboe, the botany of cane and practical aspects related to reed making. I am very grateful to him.

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I was honoured by the gracious assistance relating to the chapters on pipe organs (organologic description and conservation) given by two outstanding organists, M. Daniel Roth—St. Sulpice in Paris and M. Raymond Douglas Lawrence OAM, director of music at the Scots’ Church, Melbourne and professor for organ at the to them. I sincerely thank all colleagues, musical instrument makers, museums, scientific organisations and publishers cited in the reference lists. This book is based on the work of many colleagues in the Musical Acoustics community, including the Australian Acoustical Society, the French Acoustical Society, Italian Acoustical Society, Spanish Acoustical Society, the Acoustical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of Japan and German Acoustical Society (DEGA). Their corresponding works are cited in the references of each chapter. M. Jűrgen Perchermeier, from Germany, introduced me to the techniques for finishing brass instruments with epoxy resin lacquer. I am very thankful to him. My scientific interest in ultrasound led me to the question of using ultrasonic techniques for cleaning metallic elements of musical instruments. This subject is detailed in chap. 17. I am very thankful for the revision of this chapter to Prof. Juan A. Gallego – Juárez, eminent specialist in high power ultrasonics. For the publication of this manuscript by Springer I acknowledge the important contribution of Dr. Mayra Castro and the technical staff involved in the production of this book. My sister Despina Bucur Spandonide- architect, gave me unstinting support through interesting discussion on musical instruments and enchanted me with the radiance of her presence. I am very grateful to her. In conclusion, in this book I try to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the subject concerning properties of materials for wind musical instruments. My approach was one of having in mind the role of physical science in wind musical instruments i.e. one of understanding the principles underlying the traditional practice of manufacturing and the use of specific materials for each type of instrument. I hope that this book is of use to students, scientists, advanced scholars and musicians who can be inspired by the topics I discussed. As mentioned by Maître Jean Gouillou in his book «La musique et le gest» (Music and gesture) “….. I will not hesitate to pretend that every instrument must be the result of a culture and the fruit of a long evolution before reaching its maximum power of incantation and a material—form relationship whose effectiveness will transcend what a purely technical analysis might suggest”. Melbourne, Australia December 2018

Voichita Bucur

References Guillou J (2012) La musique et le gest. Editions Beauchesne, Paris Lees H (2007) Malarmé and Wagner: music and poetic language. Routledge, London

Contents

1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2

Organologic Description of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Systems of Musical Instruments Classification . . . . . 2.1.2 Classification of Wind Instruments from an Acoustical Standpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development of Lip Driven Brass Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 The Trombone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 The Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 The Horn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Wagner Tuba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 The Tuba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Structural Elements of Reed Driven Instruments . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 The Clarinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 The Saxophone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 The Oboe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.4 The Bassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Structural Elements of Air Jet Driven Instruments . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 The Recorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.2 The Flute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 The Pipe Organ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 About the Protection of Innovation with Wind Musical Instruments and Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.2 Patents for Wind Instruments Manufacturing Between 1617 and 1852 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.3 The European Patent Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2.5.4 Patents for Musical Instruments in USA . 2.5.5 Patents for Musical Instruments in Japan . 2.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part I 3

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Description of Materials for Wind Instruments

Wood Species for Reed-Driven Instruments—Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon and for Baroque Flute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Traditional Wood Species for Baroque Flute and for Clarinet, Oboe and Bassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Physical, Mechanical and Acoustical Properties of Traditional Wood Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Porosity of Wood Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Surface Roughness Characterisation of Wood Species . . . . . . 3.6 Effect of Surface Finishing Quality on Acoustical Characteristics of Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7 Substitutive Species for Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon . . . . . . . . . 3.7.1 Substitutive Hardwood Species from Alaska Forests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.7.2 Substitutive Hardwood Species from Australia . . . . . 3.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical, Mechanical and Acoustical Properties of Cane for Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Modes of Vibration of Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Vibration of a Single Reed for Clarinet . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Vibration of a Single Reed for Saxophone . . . . . . 4.2.3 Vibration of Double Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Shrinkage and Swelling of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Shrinkage and Swelling of Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Shrinkage and Swelling of Cane Specimens . . . . . 4.3.3 Fungi as Factors Affecting the Physical Properties of Arundo Donax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents

4.4

About the Density of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 General Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 A Simple Laboratory Method for Density Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 About the Variability of Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.4 Structural Modification of Cane Microscopic Tissue Under Mechanical Stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 About the Hardness of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6 Mechanical and Acoustical Properties of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.1 Methodology for Measurements of Viscoelastic Parameters of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.2 Mechanical Parameters Deduced from Data by Finite Element Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.6.3 Effect of Relative Humidity and Extractives . . . . . . . 4.6.4 About the Stability of Mechanical Properties of Cane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.7 Mosso Bamboo a Substitute of Cane for Saxophone Reeds . . 4.8 Common Reed (Phragmites Australis Cav.) for Japanese Flageolet, the Hichiriki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9 About the Ageing of Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.1 Effects of Repeated Wet-Dry and Dry-Wet Cycles on Specimens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.2 Effect of Dynamic Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.9.3 Effect of Reed Making on the Sound of Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10 Anatomical Structure of Cane and Musical Quality of Reeds . 4.10.1 Cane or Giant Reed (Arundo donax) and Common Reed (Phragmites australis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.10.2 Mosso Bamboo (Phyllostachys pubencens) . . . . . . . 4.11 Statistical Models for the Selection of Cane for Good Quality Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.1 Correlations Among the Quality of Reeds and the Descriptors of Musical Sounds . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.2 Multiple Regression Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.11.3 Principal Component Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.12 New Materials for Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.13 Cane with Improved Durability and Water Resistance . . . . . . 4.14 New Materials, Having Natural Cane Similar Anisotropic Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.15 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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5

Contents

Metallic Materials for Lip Driven and Air Jet Driven Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 The Brass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 The Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Authenticity of Early Brass and Alloy Provenance . 5.3 Brass as a Raw Material for Wind Musical Instruments . . . 5.3.1 Brass Technology for Wind Instruments in Saxony 5.3.2 Brass Technology in England Between 1651–1867 5.4 Chemical Composition of Period Brass Instruments . . . . . . 5.4.1 Chemical Composition of Trombones Made in Nuremberg During the Sixteenth Century . . . . . 5.4.2 Chemical Composition of Brass Wind Instruments Made in England Between 1550–1992 . . . . . . . . . 5.5 About the Finishing of Lip Driven Instruments . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 Nickel Silver, Silver and Other Precious Metals for Flute . . 5.7 Alloys for Organ Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6

Fibrous Auxiliary Materials—Felt, Cork, Paperboard . . . . . . 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 The Felt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Felt Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Felt . . . . . 6.2.3 Acoustical Properties of Felt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 The Cork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Cork Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cork . . . . 6.4 The Cardboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 Cardboard Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Cardboard 6.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

Organic Auxiliary Materials—Leather and Parchment . . . 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Leather for Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Leather for Pipe Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Parchment, Vellum and Goldbeater’s Skin or Skin Fish 7.4.1 Parchment and Vellum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 Parchment Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.3 Goldbeater’s Skin or Skin Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 Application of FT—Raman Spectroscopy to the Characterization of Parchment and Vellum . . . . . . . . . .

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7.6 Morphology of Historical Parchment with SEM Imaging . . . . . 329 7.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 Part II

Basic Acoustics of Wind Instruments

8

Resonant Air Column in Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.1 Mechanical Reed Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.2 Lip Valve Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.3 Air Jet Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Fundamentals of the Mechanism of Air Excitation in Tubes 8.3 Modelling Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Impedance Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5 Bore Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6 Tone Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7 Mouthpiece of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.8 Mute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9

Effect of Wall Material on Vibration Modes of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Description of Acoustical Characteristics of Wind Instruments with Impedance Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Physical Factors Affecting Wall Vibration of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1 Wall Vibration Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.2 Effect of Wall Thickness of a Tube . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.3 Effect of Transverse Section of the Tube . . . . . . . . . 9.3.4 Effect of Coupling Between Musical Instrument Structure and Internal Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.5 Effect of Coupling Between the Musical Instrument Structure and External Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 Effects of the Nature of Wall Materials of Wind Musical Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4.1 Material’s Effect on the Vibration of a Cylindrical Tube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4.2 Materials Effect on the Vibration of a Post Horn . . . 9.4.3 Materials Effect on the Vibration of a Trombone and a Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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337 337 338 339 339 339 342 343 347 349 350 354 355 356 357

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Contents

9.4.4 9.4.5

Material Effect on the Vibration of a Flute . . . . . Materials Effects on the Vibration of the Wall of Organ Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 Effects Induced by Pipe’s Wall Surface Quality . . . . . . . . 9.5.1 Effect of Wall Roughness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5.2 Effect of Surface Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5.3 Effect of Thermal Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.6 Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Properties of Metallic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7 The Brassiness of Lip Driven Wind Instruments and Corresponding Instruments’ Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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401 407 407 409 409

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413 418 420

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10 Effects of Bore Shape and Tone Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Bore Shape and Tone Holes in Woodwind Instruments . . . . . 10.3 Acoustical Loses in Bores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.4 About the Tone Holes and the Crack of the Corpus and Other Defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.5 Tone Holes and the Sound Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Methods for Measuring the Acoustic Properties of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 Direct Impedance Measurement Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.1 Volume Velocity Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.2 Pressure Measurement with Microphones . . . . . . . . 11.3 Impedance Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4 Stimulus Signals for Impedance Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . 11.5 About the Intensimetric Analysis of Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6 About Air Leaks in Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.7 Nondestructive Optical Techniques for Detection of Vibrations of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.7.1 Laser Doppler Vibrometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.7.2 Holographic and Speckle Interferometry . . . . . . . . . 11.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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425 425 431 433

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443 443 447 447 449 454 456 457 458

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461 461 464 468 469

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Part III

xvii

Manufacturing of Wind Instruments

12 Manufacturing of Metallic Tubes for Wind Musical Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2 Brass as an Alloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3 Constructive Particularities of Lip Driven Brass Instruments . 12.4 Manufacturing of a Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4.1 Manufacturing of Structural Elements of a Trumpet . 12.4.2 About the Consistency of Trumpet Manufacturing . . 12.5 Manufacturing of Metallic Tubes for Air-Jet Driven Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5.1 Alloys for Metallic Tubes of Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5.2 Effects of Composition, Mechanical Treatment and Casting Techniques on Mechanical Parameters of Alloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5.3 About the Metallic Sheets for Organ Pipes . . . . . . . 12.5.4 Construction of a Labial Metallic Organ Pipe . . . . . 12.5.5 Construction of a Lingual Metallic Pipe . . . . . . . . . 12.5.6 About the Mechanical Properties of the Tongue of a Lingual Pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5.7 Comparison of Pipes Made by Different Manufacturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6 Manufacturing of Metallic Tubes for Flutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.1 Alloys for Flutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.6.2 Manufacturing of Metallic Tubes for Flutes . . . . . . . 12.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Manufacturing of Tubes and Pipes in Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2 Manufacturing of Tubes for Reed Woodwind Instruments . . . 13.2.1 Technological Aspects of Tube Manufacturing . . . . . 13.2.2 About the Consistency of Reed Woodwind Instruments Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3 Manufacturing of Pipes in Wood for Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.1 About the Oldest Historical Organ with Pipes Made in Wood Exclusively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.2 Stops Made in Wood for the Modern Pipe Organs . . 13.3.3 Structural Aspects of Pipe Made in Wood . . . . . . . . 13.3.4 Constructive Particularities of Pipes Made in Wood . 13.3.5 Manufacturing Process of Wood Organ Pipes . . . . .

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475 475 476 479 482 482 485

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488 490

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496 499 500 507

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517 519 520 522 522 523

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534 536 540 540 547

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13.3.6 Tunning Appliances for Stops Made 13.3.7 Mitring of Long Wood Pipes . . . . . 13.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

in Wood . . . . . . . 552 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 . . . . . . . . .

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559 559 561 562 568 572 573 574 576

15 Manufacturing and Functions of Pads and Keys for Woodwind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2 Function and Structure of Pads for Woodwind Instruments . . 15.3 Padding of Woodwind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.4 Biological Attack on Pads of Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . 15.5 Keys Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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579 579 580 581 585 587 592 592

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593 593 595

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602 606 607

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610 611 612

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617 617 619 619

14 Manufacturing of the Reeds for Reed Driven Instruments 14.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2 Technological Aspects of Reed Manufacturing . . . . . . 14.2.1 Hand Reed Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.2 Modern Technology for Reed Making . . . . . . 14.3 Synthetic Materials for Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix: List of Patents for Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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16 Digital Fabrication of Some Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2 Operational Mode and Parameterized Digital Model . . . . . . . 16.3 Digital Fabrication of a Saxophone Mouthpiece and of a Saxophone Alto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.4 Digital Fabrication of a Flute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.5 Digital Fabrication of a Trumpet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.6 About the Advantages and Limitations of Digital Technologies for Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Part IV

About the Durability and Degradation of Materials

17 Procedures Used for Cleaning Metallic Wind Instruments 17.1 The Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2 Mechanical Cleaning of Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3 Chemical Cleaning of Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents

17.4 Ultrasonic Cleaning of Metallic Wind Musical Instruments . 17.4.1 About Ultrasonic Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.2 Principle of Ultrasonic Method for Cleaning . . . . . 17.4.3 Ultrasonic Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.4 Practical Aspects of Ultrasonic Cleaning . . . . . . . . 17.4.5 Microbial Contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.6 Presence of Pathogenic Bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.7 Methods of Sterilization of Wind Musical Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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621 621 623 626 628 631 631

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632 634 635

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18 Degradation of Organ Pipes and of Brass Instruments . . . . . . . . 18.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2 About the Tin Pest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.3 Tin Pest Failure and Degradation of Resonators . . . . . . . . . . 18.4 Degradation of the Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4.1 Chemical Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4.2 About the Mechanical Properties of Reeds and Their Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4.3 Vibration Modes of the Reeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4.4 The Residual Stress in Tongues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.5 Atmospheric Corrosion and Ageing of Historical Organ Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.6 Damages by Biological Agents of Metallic Pipes and of Pipes Made of Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.7 About the Protection of Pipe Organ Against Fire . . . . . . . . . 18.8 Degradation of Tubes of Brass Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Restoration and Conservation of Metallic Wind Musical Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.2 Conservation of Acoustical Specifications of a Wind Musical Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.3 Restoration of a Historical Trombone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.4 Corrosion Inside Historical Brass Wind Instruments . . . . . . . 19.4.1 Chemical Composition of Alloys for Horns . . . . . . . 19.4.2 Imaging of Corroded Zones of Horns’ Slides . . . . . . 19.4.3 Electrochemical Techniques for Corrosion Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.5 Corrosion of Metallic Structural Elements Containing Silver . 19.6 About Ethics in the Conservation and Restoration of Metallic Wind Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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668 669 671 675 676

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682 682 685 687 688

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Contents

19.7 New Approach in Conservation of Brass Wind Instruments . . . 697 19.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704 20 Restoration of Pipe Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.2 About the Polemic: To Play or to Preserve Period Pipe Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3 Early Music Revival Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4 Organ Revival or Organ Reform Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4.1 Orgelbewegung in Germany and Other German Speaking Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4.2 Cecilian Movement in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4.3 Organ Reform in England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4.4 Organ Revival in US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.4.5 Organ Building Development After the Second World War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.5 Technological Advances and Organ Building in the 20th and 21st Centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.6 About Restoration, Conservation and Preservation of Historical Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.6.1 Restoration of Historical Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.6.2 Types of Actions for Restoration, Conservation and Preservation of Historical Organs . . . . . . . . . . . 20.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 1: Evolution of the Organ and Registration in France from 17th to 20th Century (Data from Guilhemjoan 1998) . . . . . . . Appendix 2: Structural Components of a Modern Organ Made in 2008 by the Holtkamp Organ Company—Cleveland for the Cathedral of St Louis in New Orleans—Opus 2093. (http://www. holtkamporgan.com/Controls/ImageViewer/ImageViewer.aspx) . . . . Appendix 3: Saint Sulpice Church in Paris and the Organ Rebuilt in 1862 by Cavaillé-Coll. Roth and Dud Attenti (2014) Explained in Detail the Historical and Structural Aspects of the Organ Built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 4: Reconstruction of the Organ of St Eustache Church in Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 5: Technical Specification of the New Organ Built by van Den Heuvel in Paris, for St Eustache Church . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix 6: Stop List for the Organ in St Eustache Church in Paris—8000 Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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721 722 724

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726 730 732 732

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Contents

21 Marble, The Nondegradable Material for Pipe Organ 21.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2 Marble for Pipes Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3 Marble Organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.4 Physical and Mechanical Parameters of Marble . . 21.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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787 787 788 790 791 799 799

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801 Index of Names of Wind Instruments Makers, Composers and of Organ Builders and Places Where the Organs Were Built . . . . . . . . . 817

Chapter 1

Introduction

This book is devoted to the study of materials used for wind musical instruments in modern symphony orchestras. These instruments are: flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, horns, trumpet, trombone and tuba and their corresponding families of instruments. We also have included the pipe organ. These instruments are called aerophones because they produce sounds by the vibration of an air column. In a modern classical symphony orchestra these instruments are classified according to the materials of which they have been made such as woodwind instruments (flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon) and brass instruments (horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba). As mentioned by Benade (1994) a wood wind instruments “is recognized by the fact that the length of its air column is adjusted by means of a sequence of tone holes that are opened or closed in various combinations to determine the desired notes”. A brass instrument “is distinguished by the fact that its air column continues uninterrupted from mouthpiece to bell, any necessary length adjustments being provided either via segments of tubing inserted into the bore by means of valves (as in the trumpet or horn) or by means of sliding extension of the sort found on the trombone”. The structural elements of the brass instruments are: the mouthpiece, the main bore and the flaring bell. The mouthpiece has a cup and a tapered bore. The main bore of brass instruments can be cylindrical or conical. The flaring bell allows the air flow to exit from the interior into the space around the instrument. The brass instruments are of two main type, of cylindrical tubing and of conical tubing. The instruments having a considerable length of cylindrical tubing in their middle section and an abrupt flaring bell are: the trombone, the trumpet and the French horn. The instruments having a conical tubing, increasing in diameter from the mouthpiece to the bell, with the flare of the bell less pronounced are: the flűgelhorn, the alto horn, the baritone horn and the tuba. However, all the horns called conical have in their midsection a small zone of cylindrical tubing. As mentioned by Benade (1973), the acoustical properties of these two groups of brass instruments are similar. However, the conical tubing instruments are simpler because overall having much less flare. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 V. Bucur, Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19175-7_1

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Fig. 1.1 Position of musical instruments in a classical symphony orchestra. a Schematics of one of the possible typical position of musical instruments in a classical symphony orchestra (https:// upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Orchestra_layout.svg/1200px-Orchestra_ layout.svg.png accessed 7 May 2018). b Wind instruments of Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. (https://chicagoontheaisle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/7-horns. jpg accessed 7 May 2018)

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The sound production of wind instruments is under a reed controller which can be a cane reed for the clarinet, oboe, bassoon and saxophone, a lip reed for the air flow controller for brass instruments and an air reed, an air jet whose path is deflected in and out of an aperture like for flute and pipe organ (Benade 1994). The position of wind instruments in a modern symphony orchestra is shown in Fig. 1.1. This position was established during the Romantic era. However, it is important to mention that the way in which wind instruments are associated with string and percussion instruments in the orchestra varied over the centuries and has been influenced by, among other factors, the technological advances in the manufacturing of these instruments. Wind musical instruments are the older and probably the most popular instruments in the history of mankind, due to the natural materials available for their manufacturing. Musical sounds have been produced by early man by blowing on a conch shell, on an animal horn, on a piece of bamboo, or in a trunk of a small tree degraded by termites like the Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo. Shaper’s pipes or very similar instruments were used in temples for rituals in ancient Sumeria. The Egyptians used a type of three holed flute. The shakuhachi is a bamboo end blown flute with five finger holes. This instrument originated in Ancient China and was taken later, probably at the beginning of the first millennium, to Japan by Buddhist priests. The panpipe and the aulos have been instruments used in Ancient Greece. The aulos was sounded by a double reed. The hydraulos organ, made of ranks of pipes, was sounded by wind from a bellows. The steady pressure of wind was kept up by water pressure. For imperial ceremonies and wars, Romans had war trumpets. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wind instruments were classified as high or loud instruments—trumpets —for the open air or large halls and loud music, and quiet instruments used in chamber consorts. The Renaissance developed families of wind instruments like pommers, crumhorn, shawm, traverse flute, recorder and curtal, the ancestor of the bassoon. The sackbut was the early trombone (Campbell 2004, 2005; Heyde 1987; Wade-Matthews and Thompson 2010; Vignal 2017; Libin 2014). During the 17th century woodwind instruments were improved by musicians and instrument makers and by the members of the Hotteterres family-musicians of the royal band at the court of the French King Louis XIV. Hotteterres’ reed instruments had an “astonishing sensitivity and delicacy” (Hindley 1971). The clarinet was invented in the early18th century by the German maker and musician Johann Christoff Denner of Nuremberg. For this then newly invented instrument, Mozart wrote the famous clarinet concerto in 1791 (Hacker 1969). During the 19th century, wind instruments have been subjected to enormous improvements in key mechanisms for woodwind instruments and in valves for brass instruments (Benade 1994; Ahrens 1986, 1996; Dullat 1986; Duttenhöfer and Alexander 1982). We can cite some advantages of these improvements such as: the expansion of the ambitus—the chromatic expansion for brass instruments; the improvement in intonation due to the arrangement of sound holes following rational acoustic criteria; the increasing number of keys and the enlargement of the sound holes; the possibility of creating a vibrato by moving the fingers over the sound holes, etc. At the same time, new instruments have been invented such as the

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saxophone, the ophicleide, the Wagner tuba, etc. Some of them like the ophicleide had a short life. This instrument was invented in 1817 and from 1840 was replaced in European orchestras by the tuba. On the contrary, invented in 1840, in Paris— France by the Belgian Adolph Sax, the saxophone (made of brass and played with a single reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet), had a very interesting evolution. Designed firstly for military bands, the saxophone was used also for symphonic classical music, jazz, rock and roll and folk music. The Saxophone family is very large and is composed of the following instruments: sopranissimo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and subcontrabass. The acoustical development of the saxophone was revised by Kergomard (1999). The evolution of the flute was one of the most spectacular in the history of Western music. Castellengo (1999) and Wolfe et al. (2001) analysed the transformation of the flute following three periods, the Baroque, the early Classical period and the Romantic era with Boehm’s “revolution”. The flutes employed by musicians in the Baroque and Classical era were instruments made of wood, having six small finger holes, a mainly conical bore, narrowest at the foot, except for a cylindrical head section. Consequently, this type of flute has greater wall losses and a darker timbre than Boehm’s flute made of a metallic tube with a cylindrical bore introduced in 1832. This flute has a larger bore and about 17 large holes equipped with keys and mechanisms to allow a fingering system that minimises the need for cross fingering. This was done with the keys mounted on axles running the length of the instrument. Boehm’s flute is louder, has a brighter timbre and has a greater capacity to be played in or near an equal temperament. Boehm’s key system is the most convenient of all woodwind instruments. Measurements of the acoustic impedance spectra at the embouchure showed the differences between various types of flutes (Wolfe et al. 2001; Fletcher and Rossing 2010). The improvement in the key system allowed the development of the bass clarinet and of the heckelphone. Softer padding for the keys was used for the clarinet and the holes were provided with slightly raised rims. The seal of the key pad was tighter. French oboes and French clarinets made by Triébert, the flutes by Boehm and the bassoons designed by Buffet were instruments that were much appreciated by the musicians of that time. The German made bassoon by Heckel was preferred in German speaking countries and in England, as it was more reliable. Brass instruments evolved with the introduction of valves for changing the pitch. Taking into consideration a physical criterion for the classification of wind musical instruments for the symphony orchestra, namely the way in which the sound is produced, wind instruments are classified into three main groups: reed driven instruments (clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon), lip driven instruments (horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba) instruments and air jet driven instruments (flute and pipe organ) (Fletcher and Rossing 2010). This classification is adopted in this book. As noted by Fletcher (2012) “the evolution of musical instruments over the ages has developed in large manner upon the materials available from which they could be made. It is interesting therefore, to examine the dependence of the

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behaviour of musical instruments upon these materials and to see in what way they restrict or enhance the instrument performance”. It is therefore evident that the field of material science is interconnected with that of physics and the acoustics of musical instruments. The purpose of this book is to examine the properties of materials used for wind musical instruments. It should be noted that this book is the first one dealing with this aim from the perspective of the connection between material science and the acoustics of wind instruments. The content of this book is structured into 21 chapters, the first chapter being the introduction. The second chapter describes the structural parts of these instruments, based on an organologic approach. The material from which a pipe for a wind instrument is made can affect its tone quality in two ways: firstly, by improving constrains on the geometry and dimensions and by the quality of finishes in the interior of the tube, which would contribute damping to some pipe modes, and consequently affect air vibration in the tube, and, secondly, by vibrating and radiating sound. Therefore, the content of this book is structured into four parts, the description of the materials used for wind instruments, the basic acoustics of these instruments, their manufacturing and the durability of materials chosen for their manufacture. These parts are described in more details as follows: Part 1—Description of materials for wind instruments (Chaps. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) deals with wood species and materials for reeds used for making clarinet, oboe and bassoon- and, with metallic materials and alloys for—horn, trumpet, trombone, etc. Auxiliary materials associated with the manufacturing of wind instruments are felt, cork, leather and parchment. Part 2—Basic acoustics of wind instruments (Chaps. 8, 9, 10 and 11) in which are presented succinctly, some pertinent aspects related to the physics of the resonant air column. An important aspect discussed is related to the effect of wall material on the vibration modes of the walls of wind instruments. The methods for measuring the acoustical properties of wind instruments are presented. Part 3—Manufacturing of wind instruments (Chaps. 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16) describes the technology used in manufacturing metallic tubes and pipes made of wood. Part 4—The durability and degradation of materials (Chaps. 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21) addresses data about methods for cleaning wind instruments, studies factors producing degradation of organ pipes, describes methods of conservation and restoration of brass instruments and of historical pipe organs. Finally, the properties of marble are described, being the only one nondegradable and sustainable material used for pipes for organs.

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References Ahrens C (1986) Eine Erfindung und ihre Folgen: Blechblasinstrumente mit Ventilen (An invention and its consequences: brass instruments with valves) Kassel, Bärenreiter Ahrens C (1996) Technological innovations in nineteenth century instrument making and their consequences. Musical Quarterly 80:332–339 Benade AH (1973) The physics of brasses. Scientific American 229(1):24–35 Benade AH (1994) Woodwinds: the evolutionary path since 1700. The Galpin Society Journal 47:63–110 Campbell M (2004) Brass instruments as we know them today. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 90(4):600–610 Campbell M (2005) Acoustical evaluation of historic wind instruments. Forum Acousticum 2005, Budapest, pp 369–378 Castellengo M (1999) Métamorphoses de la flute traversière au 19eme siècle: esthétique musicale, acoustique et facture. Actes Colloque Acoustique et Instruments Anciens: Facture, Musique et Science, Cite de la Musique, pp 85–102 Dullat G (1986) Holz und Metallblasinstrumente. Verlag der Instrumentenbau-Zeitschrift. Schmit, Siegburg, Germany Duttenhöfer EM, Alexander G (1982) 200 Jahre Musikinstrumentenbau. Schott, Mainz, Germany Fletcher NH (2012) Materials and musical instruments. Acoustics Australia 40(2):130–133 Fletcher NH, Rossing TD (2010) The physics of musical Instruments. Springer, New York Hacker A (1969) Mozart and the basset clarinet. The Musical Times 110(1514):359–362 Heyde H (1987) Contrabasson in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Galpin Society Journal 40:24–36 Hindley G (1971) Musical instruments. Hamlyn Books, Sun Books Melbourne, London Kergomard J (1999) Une révolution acoustique: le saxophone. Actes Colloque «Acoustique et Instruments Anciens: Facture, Musique et Science». Cité de la Musique, pp 237–254 Libin L (2014) The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press Vignal M (2017) Dictionnaire de la musique. Ed. Larousse Wade-Matthews M, Thompson W (2010) The encyclopedia of music instruments of the orchestra and the great composers. Hermes House, London Wolfe J, Smith J, Fletcher N, McFee T (2001) The Baroque and classical flutes and the Boehm revolution. In: Proceedings of the international symposium on musical acoustics ISMA’01. Perugia, pp 505–508

Chapter 2

Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

2.1

Introduction

Musical organology is the science of musical instruments, and is related mainly to their classification, and also to their construction and their acoustics (Kartomi 1990). European musical instruments classification since the Renaissance period was a subject of permanent interest. During about six centuries, between 1500 and 2000, several reference books on musical organology have been published. Each century introduced further progress in understanding the art and technology of musical instruments. In what follows we will describe very succinctly the main contributions related to the systems of musical instruments classification and to their classification from an acoustical standpoint.

2.1.1

Systems of Musical Instruments Classification

In this section, we will present chronologically the most relevant contribution to the classification systems of Western European musical instruments used in symphony orchestras. It is thought that the first organonological work and the first printed book on the subject was published in (1511) by Sebastian Virdung «Musica Getutscht» in the German vernacular language, and more exactly, in the Bavarian dialect. The book described the instruments and provided instructions on how to play these instruments. The book was highly influential and was translated into Latin, and some copies still exist in different collections around the world (Bullard 1987, 1993). It was thought that the second reference book on musical instruments’ organology was published by Agricola with the title Musica instrumentalis deudsch, in which European musical instruments are classified in families and their musical notation is explained (Hollaway 1972). This book is also in German © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 V. Bucur, Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19175-7_2

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language and is in fact an adaptation and expansion of Virdung’s work. Agricola’s book was first printed in (1529) with reprints in 1530, 1532 and 1542, and a full revision in 1545. In the 17th century Praetorius published Syntagma musicum (1618). This book is one of the most important sources of knowledge for Renaissance musical instruments (Praetorius 1619). In (1636) was published the reference book by Mersenne «Harmonie Universelle, contenat la théorie et la pratique de la musique» (Mersenne 1636). The acoustical design of European woodwind instruments underwent a remarkable change around 1700. Their design brought these instruments in a very stable condition in the flourishing musical background in Paris of Baroque period. In the 18th century, the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert was a valuable source explaining the construction and the technology of musical instruments of the Baroque period. After this period of refinement and stabilization, some mechanical improvements took place over about three decades straddling 1800, but this did not radically change the basic nature of wind instruments. We can refer to the outstanding contribution by Theobald Boehm, with the cylindrico-conical Boehm flute model of 1832 and with the Adolph Sax and the new instruments, the saxophone and the saxhorns. In the mid 19th century a second very important revolution led to the extensive structural modifications to the air column and the revision of the key mechanism for improved control and an increasing number of tone holes. The effects of these structural modifications were perceived by the players as leading to better responsiveness of instruments and of their musical flexibility. In the 19th century Mahillon, the first curator of the museum of musical instruments in Brussels at the Royal Conservatoire of Music, described more than 1500 musical instruments, and classified them in four groups: strings, winds, drums and other percussion instruments (Mahillon 1893). This was probably the first systematic classification of European musical instruments. In the twentieth century great progress was achieved by the classification proposed in 1914 by Erich von Hombostel and Curt Sachs, using four groups: idiophones such as the xylophone, producing sound by vibrating itself, membranophones such as drums, producing sound by vibrating a membrane, chordophones such as the violin, piano, etc., producing sound by vibration of strings and aerophones such as wind instruments, which produced sound by vibration of an air column. Leiter Sachs added the fifth group the electrophones, producing sound with an electrical amplifier. This classification is based on the construction particularities of instruments and the methods of playing them. Of course, each system of classification can be improved. André Schaeffner, a French ethno-musicologist, disagreed with the Hornbostel-Sachs classification and developed his own system, in 1936, based on a very simplified system, by dividing musical instruments into only two classes: instruments with solid, vibrating bodies and, instruments containing vibrating air (Schaeffner 1936). Kartomi (1990, 2001) discussed different concepts of musical instrument classification and the changing

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trends observed at the end of the 20th century, introduced mainly by the ethnomusicologists. At the beginning of the 21st century, new concepts have been introduced, based on automatic classification of musical instruments sounds deduced from solo recordings and an advanced treatment of signals captured from recordings (Herrera-Boyer et al. 2003; Peeters and Rodet 2003; Essid et al. 2006). Another interesting aspect to consider is related to the manufacturing of musical instruments. Specific materials, tools and technologies have been used for the construction of historical musical instruments (Krűger 1998). These techniques and materials are reproduced in modern copies of such period instruments. However, for instruments produced on a much larger scale, the technology was modified considerably by inevitable technical progress. Many wind instruments in modern symphony orchestras are very different from the instruments for which the composers, for example, composed the symphonies in the Baroque period. Examples include the changes introduced by the addition of piston valves to brass instruments, or the flute in wood which in modern orchestras are in silver or gold. Some substantial technological improvement can also be mentioned, as for example to cite only one, the introduction of copper smelting for wind instruments which allowed the utilization of metallic sheets of a consistent thickness. It is worth mentioning that despite the profound technological modifications which developed since the industrial revolution, the manufacturing of high quality wind musical instruments continues to be the glory of skilled craftsmen and of their handcraft tradition.

2.1.2

Classification of Wind Instruments from an Acoustical Standpoint

We know from the Hornbostel–Sachs (1914) system of classification of musical instruments, that the wind instruments belong to the class of aerophones instruments which produce sound by vibrating an air column. From an acoustical standpoint the wind instruments are classified in three main groups: the instruments played with a vibrating reed, made of timber and called also woodwind instruments; the brass instruments, usually made of brass tubing and played by buzzing the lips inside a metal mouthpiece attached to the input end of the instrument; the instruments sounded by an air jet, like the flutes and the flue organ pipes (Fletcher and Rossing 2010). The shape of many lip driven brass instruments can be approximated by a cylindrical tube connected to a conical expanding section of comparable length and terminated at the open end by a flare. The proportion of the flare is typical for each instrument. For example, the trumpets and trombones have a short expanding section, a pronounced flare at the bell and consequently a bright tone. Other brass instruments, have two thirds of their length conical, having a small cone angle.

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A realistic approximation of the shape of the brass instruments is given by the Bessel profile horn, starting from the mouth piece and expanded to an open flaring bell. In old period instruments, and in some mellow modern instruments, the profile of the expanding section is nearly conical. The mouthpiece cup is an important structural element and is characterized by the cup volume and diameter (Fletcher and Rossing 2010). Some brass instruments were designed during the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, for precise purposes such as for military bands, to be played in open air and to sound very loud. Reed driven instruments, evolved over the centuries and have a very typical musical character. They have a common characteristic, using the finger holes to change the pitch of the notes. The material used for their construction was mainly timber. An exception should be noted, the saxophone, built in brass and invented by Adolph Sax in Paris, in nineteenth century. Another relatively new wind instrument is the modern concert flute designed by Theobald Boehm (Böhm) in the middle of the 19th century, following thoroughly acoustical studies. Modern concert flute can be made of copper nickel alloy, silver, gold or platinum. In symphony orchestras the last concert flutes made of wood have been used in 1920s (Fletcher 2017). Sound generation modes are typical for each group of instruments (Gough 2007). For woodwind reed driven instruments (clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon), the playing pitch is based on the first two modes of the resonating air column. The pitch can be modified by opening or closing holes along the instrument length. For lip driven instruments sound production is very different, and the pitch notes are based on a wide range of modes. The lip driven instruments (trombone, trumpet, horn, tuba) are made of brass. The effective length of brass instruments can be changed by a series of valves or by sliding cylindrical sections of tubing. For pipe organ, flutes and recorders the sound is generated by air jets blown over a sharp edge. Musicians agree for the classification of wind musical instruments in only two main groups in classical symphony orchestra: woodwind instruments and brass instruments. The playing frequency range of wind instruments is given in Fig. 2.1 with a detailed description of the notes and corresponding frequency for each instrument. Piccolo has the highest frequency and the contrabassoon the lowest frequency. The evolution of wind instruments can be illustrated, among others, by the increasing complexity of symphony orchestras since the seventeenth century to the modern time. The orchestra grew continuously as can be seen in Table 2.1 reaching in Romantic period. In Richard Wagner’s operas a pinnacle of Romantic Western music was attained in which wind instruments were particularly featured. Physics and acoustics of wind musical instruments are described in remarkable reference books, the last ones of the beginning of the twenty first century such as those by Fletcher and Rossing (2010), Hartmann (2013), Chaigne and Kergomard (2016). Campbell et al. (2004) described the acoustics, the technology and the performance of the instruments of western music. However, it is worth mentioning that acoustics of wind instruments was a field of interest for scholars since the nineteenth century, and reference books were published in this time by scholars like Gotfried Weber (1816) and Boehm (1871, new edition 2017), Mahillon (1874) and Helmholz (1877), Galpin (1956), Ullmann (1984, 1996). During the twentieth

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Fig. 2.1 Notations used for notes of the musical scale and the playing range of classical Western wind musical instrument. Legend a woodwind instruments (data from Vienna Symphonic Library, http://www.vsl.co.at/en/Instrumentology/Woodwinds. Accessed 13 June 2015); b brass instruments (data from Vienna Symphonic Library, http://www.vsl.co.at/en/Instrumentology/Brass. Accessed 13 June 2015)

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Table 2.1 Types of musical instruments as components of symphony orchestras (data from Ruf 1991; Raynor 1978; Sadie and Tyrrell 2001; Kennedy and Kennedy 2007) Orchestras

Instruments Woodwinds

Brass

Percussion

Keyboards

Strings

1

Baroque orchestra (about 1600– 1750) 1750—Death of JS Bach

2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons

2 natural horns 2 natural trumpets

1 timpani

Harpsichord, or Pipe organ

2

Classical orchestra (about 1750– 1830) 1827—Death of Beethoven

2 concert flutes 2 oboes 2 clarinets 2 bassoons

2 natural horns valveless 2 natural trumpets valveless

2 timpani

Harpsichord , or Pipe organ

3

Romanticism and post romanticism orchestra (about 1830– 1950) 1949—Death of Richard Strauss

1–2 piccolo 3–4 concert flutes 3–4 oboes 3–4 clarinets 3–4 bassoons 1 contrabassoon

4–8 horns 3–6 trumpets 3–4 trombones 1–2 tubas 0–4 Wagner tubas

Piano Celesta

4

Modern orchestra (after 1950)

1–2 piccolo 2–4 concert flutes 2–4 oboes, 1 doubling cor Anglais 2–4 clarinets 2 bass clarinets 3–4 bassoons contrabassoon 1 or more saxophones

8 horns 3–6 trumpets 3–6 trombones 1–2 bass trombones 1–2 tubas 1 or more baritone horns / euphoniums 1 or more Wagner tubas

4 or more timpani played by a single timpanist Bass drum Cymbals Tam-tam Triangle Tambourine Glockenspiel Xylophone Tubular bells 4–5 timpani Tenor drum Bass drum Cymbals Tam-tam Wood block Triangle Tambourine Glockenspiel Xylophone Tubular bells Marimba Other Electronic instruments

8–10 violin I 4–6 violin II 4–6 viola 4–6 violoncello 1–2 double bass 2–4 bass violone 12 violin I 10 violin II 6 viola 8 violoncello 6 double bass 16 violin I 14 violin II 12 viola 12 violoncello 10 double bass 2 or more harps

Piano Celesta Pipe organ

16 violin I 14 violin II 12 viola 12 violoncello 8 double bass 2 or more harps

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century more advance in the acoustics of wind instruments was achieved and several reference books have been published by Bouasse (1929), Benade (1976) and Nederveen (1998). It is also important to underline the impressive number of articles on this subject published in specialized journals during this time. This frenetic scientific activity in the 20th century allowed the development of a deep understanding of basic phenomena related to wind instruments. The theoretical aspects related the acoustics of wind instruments are beyond the scope of present book, which is focused on the characteristics of materials used for wind instruments in a classical symphony orchestra. In this chapter, after considering the organological particularities of wind instruments used in classical Western symphony orchestras, a short introduction is given and is focused on the historical evolution of each wind instrument used in the classic symphony orchestra. An iconographic representation of the instrument is presented, with the hope that this representation will give a better idea about the ergonomic function of the instrument. It is interesting to note that the iconography of wind instruments is not as rich as those of string instruments. This chapter is structured in three main parts, the first one related to lip driven instruments—trombone, trumpet, horn and tuba, the second one related to reed driven instruments—clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, and the third one related to air jet driven instruments—flute, recorder and pipe organ. The manufacturing of wind musical instruments requires processes of high technicity, which should be protected by patents. In the last part of this chapter are discussed some aspects related to the patents for musical instruments.

2.2

Structural Elements and Historical Development of Lip Driven Brass Instruments

The structural elements and the historical evolution of lip driven brass instruments, namely trombone, trumpet, horn and tuba, are described in the following reference books: Sachs (1943), Fitzpatrick (1970), Beauregard (1970), Marcuse (1975), Baines (1976, 1994), Sadie and Tyrell (2001), Campbell et al. (2004). In this section a succinct description of the structural elements of each instrument will be given.

2.2.1

The Trombone

2.2.1.1

Structural Elements of the Trombone

The structural constitutive elements of the trombone are: the bell, the slides and the mouthpiece (Fig. 2.2). The U shaped movable outer slide is straitened with two slide braces. The outer slide has a water key. Two parallel cylindrical tubes doubled

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Fig. 2.2 Tenor trombone in Bb (Photo https://sites.google.com/site/hcsbands/brass-maintenance. Accessed 20 June 2017)

the total length of tubing. By altering the tube length, the trombone produces a chromatic scale and reaches the tenor and bass registers.

2.2.1.2

Historical Development of the Trombone

It is thought that the birth of trombone was in the 15th century originated in Burgundy. The trombone has a simple construction that has remained unchanged through the centuries. By the end of the fifteenth century, Nuremberg become an important town for wind musical instruments making, and instruments from that period (actually in museums or private collections) are testimony of the high degree of art and craftmanship of Nuremberg makers. The early trombones had a very small bore and only a very slight taper toward the bell. The baroque trombone of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was suited for accompanying choral music. A family of trombones, called also a consortium of trombones, comprising soprano, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass trombones was used for playing musical works by Giovanni Gabrieli (1557–1612), Monteverdi (1567–1643), Heinrich Schutz (1585–1672) and JS Bach 1685–1750). The baroque trombone is illustrated in Fig. 2.3. Compared with the modern trombone, the baroque trombone has a narrower bore, narrower bell, and thicker walls. During the 18th century the soprano trombone was used by Mozart (1756–1791) in the Mass in C minor. In Romantic orchestra the trio of trombones—alto, tenor, and bass held an important place (Fig. 2.4). Berlioz (1844) described the function of each instrument in his reference work about the orchestration. In Berlioz’s Requiem composed in 1837 eight trombones evoked also a religious symbolism. In the 19th century the valve trombone was invented (Fig. 2.5) and was used successfully by Verdi. During the 20st century a wide range of techniques have been developed and the trombone has become increasingly versatile (Massin and Massin 1987).

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Fig. 2.3 Still life with trombone 1663 by Franz Friedrich Franck (1627–1687) in Augsburg, (http://kimballtrombone.com/2011/04/24/trombone-in-baroque-still-life/. Accessed 20 June 2017)

Fig. 2.4 German alto, tenor and bass trombone (Fig. 31, http://mogensandresen.dk/history-brassinstruments/romanticism-ii/. Accessed 20 June 2017)

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Fig. 2.5 Valve trombone—tenor, made in USA in 1875

2.2.2

The Trumpet

2.2.2.1

Structural Elements of the Trumpet

The trumpet in C (Fig. 2.6) is composed from the following parts: the main body a tube, the bel, the mouthpiece with its detachable piece, the valves and the tuning slide with a water key. The valves have valve slides which can be pulled out with a trigger to correct the intonation of notes. The mouthpiece fits into the leadpipe, which fits into the main bore of the instrument at the throat. The main body is quite cylindrical but flares out at the far end to form the bell. The cylindrical body is formed by several tapers, which are small in length at the input end and larger at the bell end. The trumpet has three valves, which when depressed, deflect the air flow from the main bore into additional tubings. With an extra-length the pitch of the note is decreased. The valves have valve slides which can be pulled out with a trigger to correct the intonation of notes. The overall length of a trumpet is of about one meter, but the air column of the instrument is shortest when no valves are depressed and longest when all valves are depressed. The mouthpiece has a rim, and behind this rim is a hemispherical cup. The mouthpiece sits on the leadpipe. The leadpipe is fitted in the main bore of the trumpet, at the input end. The leadpipe matches the main bore of the trumpet. The diameter and volume of the cup have significant effect on the impedance of the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece has the effect of boosting the lower resonances of the

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

17

Fig. 2.6 Trumpet in C (Photo https://sites.google.com/site/hcsbands/brass-maintenance. Accessed 21 June 2017)

trumpet (Benade 1976). The natural notes of a trumpet are close to be a complete harmonic series and for this reason the repertoire for natural trumpets is built on the notes of these harmonic series (Campbell et al. 2004). Several models of concert trumpets are used. For example, the Viennese style, the German style, used mostly in German speaking countries and in Eastern European orchestras, and all over the world. The French style trumpet with the Périnet cylindrical piston valves system, and narrower bore. This trumpet is used in France.

2.2.2.2

Historical Development of the Trumpet

Since the Antiquity the trumpet has been used for ceremonial events. The beginning of the modern trumpet can be dated in the Middle Ages. At the 11th century, the trumpet emerged from the Roman buccina as the buisine in two different forms: one with a conical straight tube, which would become the trumpet, and another with a curved tube which would become the horn. In the Middle Ages, the trumpet had a range of only four notes. Since the 13th century trumpet has been part of the family of musical instrument. In the 16th century the range of the trumpet was increased up to the 13th natural. Since 1675 the trumpet appeared in opera orchestras, such as for example in the opera Eteocle e Polinice by Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690). Vienna was the home of baroque trumpet playing. The classical works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven incorporated trumpets. To increase the range of the natural trumpet, the shape of the instrument was modified. The trumpet had three keys. Opening the keys raised the pitch successively by a half note, a whole note and one and a half notes. Trumpets with four keys were more developed. The Romantic period has saw the rise of the valve trumpet. The system of valves allowed the player to instantly change the length of the trumpet air column. Valves also allowed access to

18

2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

pitches that were otherwise available only from the upper partials of the longer instruments. From the Romantic era the trumpet remained unchanged in its basic aspect. During the 20th century commonly the most used trumpets were those in Bb and C, and exceptionally the piccolo and bass trumpets were used by virtuosi players, as for example in France, Maurice André (1933–2012) (Touvron 2003). Figure 2.7 shows several types of trumpets such as the fifteenth century trumpet by Cesare Beninelle, the “crescent trumpet”, Baroque trumpet the Stoelzel valve trumpet, the nineteenth century trumpet by Guichard, a concert trumpet of

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

19

JFig. 2.7 Several types of period and contemporaneous trumpets. a “Crescent” trumpet in F, John

Webb, London 1989 reproduction, of an instrument in Musikinstrumentenmuseum Schloss Kremsegg, Austria, Streitwieser collection)-Vienna Symphonic Library, https://www.vsl.co.at/en/ Trumpet_in_C/History_02. b Stoelzel valve trumpet in F (high tuning), Chas Paice, London. Valves with exchangeable tubes for E, Eb, D, and C are presumably original Musikinstrumentenmuseum Schloss Kremsegg, Austria, Streitwieser collection) Vienna Symphonic Library, https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Trumpet_in_C/History_02. c Trumpet by Cesare Bendinelli (1542–1617) http://mogensandresen.dk/messingblaeseinstrumenternes-historie/ barokken/. d Trumpet B-flat: Selmer Paris “Balanced Action”, Paris 1935. https://archives. library.illinois.edu/archon/?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=9198. e Bass trumpet- Selmer Concept–TTM-contemporaneous instrument, https://www.selmer.fr. f Selmer 703 piccolo trumpets A/Bb-contemporaneous instrument 1975, played by Maurice André; https://www.selmer.fr. g Trumpet in F by A. G. Guichard, Paris, ca. 1840 featuring Stölzel piston valves. From the National Music Museum, http://www.middlehornleader.com 22 June 2017. h Plastic trumpet, http://trevorjonesltd.co.uk/Tromba-Plastic-Trumpet.htm

the twenty century and of the 21st century trumpet in plastic made with a digital printer. An iconographic representation of the Baroque trumpeter is given in Fig. 2.8, showing the portrait of Gottfried Reiche (1667–1734), the famous trumpet player in Bach’s orchestra in Leipzig. “In this portrait, Reiche holds a coiled natural trumpet in his right hand. In his left hand, he holds a sheet of music manuscript on which is written a short “abblasen” or fanfare. The musical notes are depicted accurately on the painting, and the fanfare has been transcribed and performed by several artists” (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Reiche-Gottfried.htm).

2.2.3

The Horn

2.2.3.1

Structural Elements of the Horn

Since 1971, International Horn Society recommended use of the term horn, for designing the French horn which is a brass instrument composed of three main parts: the mouthpiece, the tubing wrapped into a coil and a flared bell (Meucci and Rocchetti 2001). A detailed description of the structural parts of a French horn is given in Fig. 2.9. Several different types of horn exist. One example is the German horn, which is a double horn in F/Bb, and is the instrument most frequently used in orchestras and bands. The Viennese horn has a very distinctive sound determined by the particularities of its construction and is the most difficult horn to play. Figure 2.10 shows different types of horns, the contemporary horn, the Viennese horn of the 19th century, the French horn, made in France in the late nineteenth century, the compensating double horn made in 1925, and characteristic detail of typical rotary valves of the German double horn of the twenty first century. It is worth mentioning that the instruments of the nineteenth century are different from the modern instruments. The differences are observed on the bore size which

20

2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Fig. 2.8 Portrait of Gottfried Reiche (1667–1734) made in 1727 by the painter Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1695–1774) (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Gottfried_reiche.jpg. Accessed 18 May 2018)

was narrower compared to modern instruments (Carse 1965) and in the mouthpiece which was funnel shaped—whereas the modern mouthpiece is a more cupped shape (Humphries 2000), which gave player greater security of pitch, and endurance. Of course, the character of horn sound was modified by these structural elements. The sound of Viennese horn contains a greater number of harmonics and is brighter compared with the horn commonly used (Widholm 2005). The Viennese horn has narrower bore, namely the diameter of 10.8 mm of cylindrical part of the

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

21

Fig. 2.9 Structural components of a modern double horn in F/Bb horn and Kruspe valve ordering (Besson BE 702), seen from back side (Photo by Hk kng (own work based on Image: French horn back.png) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:French_Horn_back.svg; 13 June 2015). Legend 1-Mouthpiece; 2-Lead pipe; 3-Adjustable hand rest; 4-Ducks foot; 5-Spit Valve Fourth valve for changing between F and B-flat pitch; 6-Valve levers; 7-Rotary valves; 8-Slides; 9-Long tubing for F pitch with slide; 10-General slide; 11-Short tubing for B-flat pitch with slide 12-Bell pipe 13-Bell

bore, compared with 11.5–13 mm on the double horn. The bell and the bell joints are also narrower. The crock is a detachable piece on the Viennese horn and fixed on the double horn. The cork is a third of the total length of the tube. The Vienna valve is a twin piston valve rather the double horn rotary valve horns. Figure 2.11 and Table 2.2 shows different types of valves used for the French horns and the specific advantages and disadvantages of each valve type. It is worth mentioning again, that the horns of the 19th century are different from the modern instruments. Differences are observed in the bore size which was narrower compared to modern instruments (Carse 1965) and in the mouthpiece which was funnel shaped—whereas the modern mouthpiece is a more cupped shape

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Fig. 2.10 Different types of horns. a French horn Front view, https://commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File:French_horn_front.png. b French horn Back view, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:French_horn_front.png#/media/File:French_horn_back.png. c Viennese horn-Valve horn in F with crooks Leopold Uhlmann (1806–1878), Wien, Around 1880, https://www.schloss-kremsegg. at/EN/MU_SA_Blas. d French horn by Jean Baptiste Arban, with three Périnet valves, late 19th century. Musee de la Musique Paris, France. e Compensating double horn by Carl Lehman & comp 1925—walzen horn—front view, http://www.rjmartz.com/horns/walzen/DSCN2266a.jpg. f Typical rotary valves of a German double horn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_horn

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

23

(Humphries 2000). This modern shape gives player greater security of pitch, and endurance. Of course, the character of the horn’s sound was modified by these structural elements

2.2.3.2

Historical Development of the Horn

In the Middle ages, the most common horns were the cow horn used for hunting, a big metallic military horn and the smaller bugle used by guards and shepherds. These instruments produced only one note. A gradual increase in the number of notes was obtained with the addition of finger holes. In Europe, the first coiled horns probably appeared on the 12th century. In the 17th century the horn still was used an instrument for hunts and battles—“cor de chasse”—in French and became used in English as the French horn. Moreover, this name- French horn- was used centuries later for the modern valve horn, in English speaking countries. Iconographic representation of a Baroque hornist is given in Fig. 2.10, which is the portrait of Liugi Brizzi (1737–1815) a famous player in Bologna, in Italy. Bach and Handel introduced the trumpet into the orchestra’s repertoire. The development of the hunting horn underwent a fundamental change in Vienna with Michael and Johannes Leichamschneider in about 1720s’. The new horn had tuning crooks, an additional section of tubing between the mouthpiece and the tube, and the tube was made more conical and coiled four times. the Bohemian maker Joseph Hampel (1710–1771) made the corn bell facing downward. This has given the horn its characteristic tone since 1753. Mozart and Beethoven introduced the horn into the classical orchestra. Romantic era introduced valves. This was possible after the invention of the valve in 1814 by Heinrich Stölzel (1777–1844) in Berlin and from 1818 by the invention of double valve by Frederic Blühmel. The triple valve was used since 1830 and gave the instrument a full chromatic range. The double horn in F/Bb was made by the German maker Fritz Kruspe at the end of the 19th century (Ruf 1991). The contribution of the French horn to the specific tone color of an orchestra is very important (Gregory 1969; Tuckwell 2002; Morley-Pegge 1973). We know that each orchestra has a distinctive tone color. For example, the instruments modelled on the Roux horn from France at the end of the 19th century, have a small bell, a bore between 10.8 mm and 11 mm and use three Perinet (piston) valves. In modern orchestras, the French horn was in use until about 1920, and was preferred for symphonic pieces by Frank, Debussy and Ravel (Massin and Massin 1987). German horns used rotary valves instead of piston valves, had a wider bore and a larger flared bell. These characteristics gave the German horn a deeper, richer and louder sound (Fig. 2.12).

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

25

JFig. 2.11 Types of horn early valves (data from Ericson 1992, http://www.public.asu.edu/

*jqerics/earlval.htm. Accessed 11 July 2017). a Horn with Stölzel valves (Ericson 1992, Fig. 2.2). b Stölzel valves (Ericson 1992, Fig. 1). c Horn with Vienna Valves (Ericson 1992, Fig. 6). d Vienna valve (Ericson 1992, Fig. 5). e Horn with Berlin valves (Ericson 1992, Fig. 8). f Berlin valve (Ericson 1992, Fig. 7). g Horn Périnet piston valves. Ericson (1992, Fig. 12). h Périnet piston valve Ericson (1992, Fig. 11)

Table 2.2 Types of valve and some advantages and disadvantages of these types (data from Ericson 1992, http://www.public.asu.edu/*jqerics/earlval.htm. Accessed 11 July 2017) Type of valve

Advantages

Disadvantages

1

Stölzel valve

– Simple to construct—the air passages in the piston were often simply made of cork; provided satisfactory results Note before 1850 most popular type of valve especially in France

2

Vienna valve—double-piston valve—Figs. 5 and 6 Invented in 1823 by Viennese instrument maker Joseph Riedl (d. 1840) and hornist Josef Kail (1795–1871). Leopold Ulhmann of Vienna also held an 1830 patent on an improved Vienna valve

3

Horn with rotary valves. Figures 9 and 10 patented in 1835 by Riedl

– The use of two pistons for each valve loop made for a more consistent bore – Eliminated the potential problem of back pressure found in the single-piston Stölzel valve Note Prussian players favoured the Vienna valve until the 1850s, while Austrian players continued to used it throughout the nineteenth century and beyond – The piston turned in the valve casing instead of moving vertically, allowing a very consistent bore Note this type of valve was to become the standard design used on horns in Germany by the late nineteenth century

– Inherent acoustic problems-, the bore of the instrument, disrupted at the 90° bend in the windway at the bottom of the valve casing – Bore was then further disrupted in the middle air passage of the valve – Undesirable back pressure— as the air entered the bottom of at least one piston, the valves could push air back at the performer when depressed – Valvesdifficult to disassemble – When a Vienna valve is depressed it introduces two sharp 90° into the windway, – Introduces two sudden constrictions of approximately 8% in the bore, neither of which assist in the response of the instrument

– Difficult to disassemble for maintenance

(continued)

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Table 2.2 (continued) Type of valve

Advantages

Disadvantages

4

Berlin valve Figs. 7 and 8 initially developed in 1827 by Stölzel and further improved in 1828 by the Berlin band leader and instrument designer Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802– 1872)

– The action can be slow due the large diameter and mass of the valve

5

Périnet piston valves. Figures 11 and 12 invented in 1838 by brass instrument maker François Périnet in Paris. Was frequently used in France and England, it was seldom used in Germany

It is a piston valve design, derived from the box valve, which shared the acoustical advantages of the box valve but was much easier to construct and maintain Note Berlin valve was frequently used on lower brass instruments but was only infrequently applied to horns – Faster action and a tubing arrangement superior to the older Berlin valve design – The final significant development on the improved piston valve

2.2.4

Minimum disadvantages The most efficient in their overall design-still widely used today

Wagner Tuba

The Wagner Tuba, named after the composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) is one of the most interesting wind instrument (Webb 1996). It was developed for a very precise purpose, namely to be integrated in the orchestra of Wagner’s cycle of four operas (Das Rheingold—The Rhinegold, Die Walkure-The Valkyrie, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung—Twilight of the Gods) known as “the Ring of Nibelungen”, composed between 1850 and 1876, when represented for the first time at the first Bayreuth Festival (Bavaria, Germany) (Kuehn 1974; Spotts 1994).

2.2.4.1

Structural Elements of the Wagner Tuba

The Wagner tuba could be seen as an instrument belonging to the family of the horns (Fig. 2.13). This instrument combines the tonal characteristics of a French horn and of the trombone. The Wagner tuba is defined as a hybrid instrument, a type of horn, with the bore profile at between the euphonium (a valved bugle horn) and the French horn. The Wagner tuba is played by a horn player, with a horn mouthpiece. The rotary valves are operated by the left hand. Wagner tubas are made in two pitched: tenor in 9 foot B flat and bass in 12 foot F, in typical German elliptical form. Their geometrical characteristics varied over time. Like for the German tenor horn, the main body of the tuba is elliptical. The bell is relatively small and is at the end of the conical bore of the instrument. Wagner tuba has rotary valves, identical of those of a horn and are played with the left hand. The mouthpiece and the fingering are the same as for the horns.

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

27

Fig. 2.12 Portrait of Luigi Brizzi (1737–1815), active in Bologna, Italy—was the head of three generations of distinguished horn players (Morgens Andresen, http://mogensandresen.dk/historybrass-instruments/viennese/. Accessed 6 July 2017)

However, nowadays the Wagner tubas are distinctive members of the brass family and are made in two pitched: tenor in 9 foot B flat (2.74 m) and bass in 12 foot F (3.65 m), in typical German elliptical form. A combination into a double Wagner tuba, is made by the manufacturers of the 20st century, with the option to configurate in B♭ or in F. The instrument has four rotary valves to be operated by the left hand. These instruments are described in reference books such as Sadie and Tyrrell (2001) and Sadie (1984). Their geometrical characteristics varied over the

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2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

29

JFig. 2.13 Wagner tubas. Wagner tubas made by the firm Gebr. Alexander—Germany in 2017

(Photos http://www.gebr-alexander.de/en/instruments/wagner-tubas/. Accessed 7 July 2017) a Wagner tuba in F Key F; bore 13.5 mm; bell flare diameter 250 mm; bell throat—large; number of valves 4; Left hand original «Ring» type. b Wagner tuba in F/Bb Key F/Bb; bore 13.5 mm; bell flare diameter 250 mm; bell throat—large; number of valves 4, number—thumb valves 1. c Wagner tuba in F, made by CW Moritz in Berlin and restored by Silva (2013, Fig. 36, p. 80). d Windway diagram of Wagner tuba

time. Like for the German tenor horn, the main body of the tuba is elliptical. In the center of the ellipse are fixed four rotary valves which are manipulated with the left hand. The bell is relatively small and is at the end of the conical bore of the instrument. The windway of a Wagner tuba is described in Fig. 2.13d. The conical leadpipe LP enters the cylindrical valve segment A. Each valve has an additional cylindrical tube A1…A4. The first valve lowers the pitch a whole tone, the second valve a semitone, the third valve a minor third, and the fourth valve a major third. The windway continues with the cylindrical pre- tuning slide branch B, with the conical main tuning slide C, and the post main tuning slide branch B. The conical profile E connects the bow G, through the ferrule F. The ferrule H is connected with the last section of the bell pipe of variable section, starting with a conical shape and ending with a hyperbolical one. 2.2.4.2

Historical Development of Wagner Tuba

Until recently the organological particularities of Wagner tuba were obscure. Musicians and scholars were unaware of aspects related to its history. Composers lacked interest in this instrument in the first half of the 20th century. The instrument revived in the 1960s and was used in film music and television shows for its very particular timbre. A new important step for the organology of this instrument was achieved recently by Melton (2008) and Silva (2013) by bringing to light data related to the history and technology of Wagner tuba in the period from about 1870–1945—the end of the Second World War. One of the first questions to be elucidated by the scholars was about the origin of this instrument and the direct involvement of the composer in the construction of this tuba. Keays (1977) in his dissertation was probably the first to be interested on the origins of the instrument and its development between about 1850 and 1877. The musical instrument manufacturers involved in the further development this instrument were: Adolph Sax, Cerveny, Ottensteiner, CW Moritz, Gebr. Alexander, Besson and Mahillon. Several instruments made by these companies are exhibited in different museums of musical instruments, over the world. Some of these firms still exist nowadays and still produce Wagner tubas such e.g. Gebr. Alexander in Mainz in Germany. Wagner did not name the instrument after himself, but in the orchestral draft of the opera “Das Reingold” in 1854 he used the term “Tuben”—in German, for the

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

new instruments in his orchestration. Other names have been used in the literature such as Ring Tuben, Nibelungen Tuben, Siegfried Tuben, Bayreuth Tuben, etc., and generally Wagner tuba or tubas was accepted (Melton 2008). The instruments were used also in military bands as replacement for the horn. As very clearly noted by Melon (2008), there were many existing instruments capable of inspiring Wagner and the manufacturer in the design of the tubas. After a visit to Adolph Sax in Paris in 1853, Wagner had seen the Saxhorns—band instruments of interesting timbre—that Sax intended to integrate in a single family. It was also reported that in 1844 Wagner may have heard in Dresden, the Cerveny’s horn. However, Melon’s suggestion (op. cit.) is that probably Wagner initially chose to ask Alexander’s in Mainz to make the new brass instruments for his new opera rather than Moritz firm in Berlin, which was the builder of the first bass tuba in 1835. It is useful to note that in fact, two instruments were under Wagner’s attention, the bass tuba- pitched in F, specified by Wagner in his earlier works, and, the contrabass tuba in BBb or CC (firstly probably made by Cerveny in 1845). Wagner specified this last instrument in the opera Das Rheingold (1853–54). The bass- tuba would only be constructed after validation of manufacturing methods for making its large valves. The bass—tuba and the contrabass tuba were musically treated differently by Wagner. Also, it seems that the horn player Franz Strauss, father of the composer Richard Straus and principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich–Bavaria, acted as a “consultant” for the construction of the instruments. In any case it is sure that he played the Wagner tuba for the premiere in Bayreuth of the opera Das Rheingold. It was also noted that technologically, the bass-tuba would only be constructed after the validation of manufacturing methods of making its large valves. Melton (2008) confirms that at their first public appearance, in 1874, the tubas made by the firm Ottensteiner in Munich, were still far from technically «perfect». The set considered the definitive version of Wagner tubas was made in 1890 by the firm Alexander in Mainz and delivered to the Bayreuth Theater for future opera performances. These instruments were in the possession of the Bayreuth Theater until the end of the Second World War. The acoustical performance of Wagner tubas was discussed by Norman et al. (2010). It was demonstrated by acoustical tests of measured impedance versus frequency that Wagner tubas did not have particular problems of tuning. However, musicians noted the poor tuning of these instruments and the lack of differentiation between F and Bb sides. Therefore, it was fair to conclude that «these perceptions result from the individual musician’s lack of familiarity with instruments which in many cases are brought out of the opera house’s store-rooms only occasionally» (Norman et al. 2010). As noted by Hutchins (2017), “Wagner tuba stands out not in its legacy to modern instruments, but in the wild divergence it possessed. The Wagner tuba has several constructions which greatly alter its tone“. The main three differences are: the bell is faced upward, the cup is very large in depth of 64 mm; the instrument is conical, including the valves; the sound production is typical. The timbre of the instrument gives the feeling to be a combination of horn, trombone and tuba, giving a “demonic sound” (Baines 1991).

2.2 Structural Elements and Historical Development …

2.2.5

The Tuba

2.2.5.1

Structural Elements of the Tuba

31

The structural elements of the tuba are described in Fig. 2.14. The bell passes over the musician’s head. The bass and contrabass tubas are the largest and lowest pitched brass instruments. Tubas are made in different patterns with Périnet valves or rotary valves. Figure 2.15 shows a modern tuba player. 2.2.5.2

Historical Development of Tuba

The tuba is an instrument of the 19th century (Beauregard 1970; Bevan 2000) and has a precursor the ophicleide. Berlioz (1844) noted that during his time, new

Fig. 2.14 Tuba (Photo http://www.songsofthecosmos.com/encyclopedia_of_modern_music/T/ tuba.html. Accessed 23 June 2017)

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Fig. 2.15 Modern tuba player, Gene Pokorny– Chicago Symphony orchestra (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/XVII-pU92OI/VlDUJSxgHII/ AAAAAAAAA2s/di3_ rabzxkE/s1600/775198.jpg. Accessed 10 April 2018)

instruments were added to the orchestra and old instruments were redesigned to be more sonorous and more flexible to produce new color tonal effects. Book (1982) explained the view of Berlioz on the use of the ophicleide and tube in orchestration. Berlioz initiated a new era in Western music history:” he enriched orchestral music with new resources of harmony, color, expression and form” (Bevan 1997). The bass tuba in F was invented in 1835 by WF Wieprech (1802–1872) and Johann Gottfried Moritz (1777–1840), for which a Prussian patent was granted. Tuba tenor was invented in 1838 by Carl Wilhelm Moritz (1810–1855), in Berlin. As noted by Kennan and Grantham (1990) “It has frequently been pointed out that the name tubas is a misnomer inasmuch as they are really modified horns.” Tubas are used in orchestras, in concert bands and in military bands. Four tunings are common for tubas: the bass tuba in F and Eb and the contrabass tuba in C and Bb. Tuba C with four valves is probably the most commonly played instrument—in orchestra, brass chamber music ensembles and as a solo instrument. The tuba is made of brass. Its surface can be unfinished and so needs periodical needs periodical polishing, lacquered or electroplated with nickel, silver or gold (Baines 1991; Phillips and Winkle 1992).

2.3 Structural Elements of Reed Driven Instruments

2.3

33

Structural Elements of Reed Driven Instruments

Reed driven instruments are clarinet, saxophone, oboe and bassoon. Clarinet and saxophone which are single reed driven instruments. Oboe and bassoon are double reed driven instruments. These instruments are made of wood, with one exception, the saxophone, made of brass. These instruments are called also woodwind instruments of symphony orchestra. As regards the evolution of these instruments it is to note that they underwent large changes. Early instruments of the flute and oboe homilies just had 6 or 7 finger holes, and then gradually several normally closed keys were added to make chromatic playing simpler. Then on the second half of the 19th century came the design of the flute by Boehm. It gave a very well organised key system and this system was also used on the saxophone. Other woodwinds did not have their fingering system changed- the bassoon, for example, still has 8 keys for the left thumb. There was developed, however, a “logical bassoon“ with a simple keyboard and electrically operated keys—it hasn’t been adapted widely, however. On the respect of the historical evolution of wood wind instruments several reference books should be mentioned: Sachs (1943), Rendal (1957), Baines (1991), Bate (1975, 1969), Galway (1990), Waterhouse W (1997), Sadie and Tyrrell (2001), Kopp (2012), and the dissertation by Matei (2001). Unfortunately, more detailed comments on this interesting subject is not the scope of this book. The structural elements of the woodwind instruments are less complex than that of the brass instruments. These elements are made of timber of different species such as hardwood species, such as African blackwood, also known as grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon), Honduras rosewood or cocobolo Dalbergia retusa. Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) was also used for Baroque instruments. Maple is used for making the German bassoon and palisander for French bassoon. The clarinet is a single reed instrument with a cylindrical bore while the saxophone is made of brass and is a single reed instrument with conical bore. Oboe and bassoon are double reed instruments, with conical bore. The reeds are made of cane (Arundo donax) for concert instruments and in plastic materials for students’ instruments. The characteristics of reeds are discussed in Chap. 4. Open and shut toneholes in the side of wood wind instruments are used to vary the pitch of the notes. The bores are flared out towards their ends. The flares act as acoustic transformers matching the high impedance at the mouthpiece to the lower radiation impedance of the larger area of the radiating output end. The shape of the bore influences the frequency of the radiated air column, altering the harmonicity of the modes of vibration of air column. The mouthpiece shape varies with the style of the instrument (Nederveen 1969, 1998). The sizes of woodwind instruments are given in Table 2.3. It is useful to bear in mind the particular characteristics of woodwind instruments which defined their quality. The requirements for producing quality wood wind instruments have been commented on by Benade (1994). Some of them are the following:

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Table 2.3 Sizes of woodwind instruments elements (data from Fletcher and Rossing 2010) Instrument

Musical range

Tube length, sounding length (mm)

Top diameter (mm)

Bell diameter (mm)

Semi angle of the cone

Clarinet Oboe Bassoon

D3-G6 Bb3-G6 Bb1-C5

664 644 2560

14 3 4

16–60 13–37 40

0° 0.7° 0.4°

– The instrument must possess a readily controllable range of dynamics, must “sing” with a full, centred tone that carries well in an ensemble; – Must have a playing pitch that remains stable over a wide range of dynamics; – Should respond in order to give player easy control of nuances; – Ought to have a suitable tone colour to match the stylistic musical pieces played.

2.3.1

The Clarinet

2.3.1.1

Structural Elements of the Clarinet

The standard clarinet is in Bb. The structural elements of a modern clarinet are given in Fig. 2.16 a and can be described as being made in five separate sections: the bell, a long tube composed of the lower joint, the upper joint, the barrel and the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece, the barrel, the upper joint, the lower joint and the bell are connected by socket and tenon joints. The main body which is between the upper and lower joints, carries the keywork. The total length from the tip to the mouthpiece, on a standard Bb clarinet is 67 cm. On the disassembled clarinet (Fig. 2.16b), we can see the tenon corks making the junction between the lower and the upper joints. The bell at the bottom of the clarinet flares out to improve the radiation of the instrument. The bore of the clarinet is cylindrical for most of the tube with an inner bore diameter between 14 and 15.5 mm. Between the upper and the lower joint there is a fine reduction in the bore diameter of about 1–3 mm. Bore diameter and tone hole size affect the musical characteristics of the clarinet as we will see in Chap. 10. The large number of keys close and open the tone holes. The key work is a very complex piece of engineering, with springs which keeps the key in the open position, to be closed by the finger or with springs which hold the key closed until required to be opened by the player. The tone holes are closed by pads which must be air-tight under pressure. The closure should be instant and secure. The key must return to its initial position (the rest position) instantly, smoothly and without noise. The tuning of a clarinet is influenced by several structural elements such as the open and the closed tone holes, the cross-sectional area of the main bore, the position of the register hole and the design of the bell. Other effects are introduced by the reed-mouthpiece design and of course the player’s embouchure (Benade and Keefe 1996). The very complex clarinet parameter cartography can be mapped automatically together with the sound produced as a function of blowing pressure and reed force (Almeida et al. 2010).

2.3 Structural Elements of Reed Driven Instruments

35

Fig. 2.16 Structural elements of a modern clarinet. Legend a schematic representation of the three main parts of the clarinet, the bell, the joint and the mouthpiece (Photo https://sites.google.com/ site/hcsbands/woodwind-maintenance. Accessed 31 March 2017). b Detailed view of the structural parts of the clarinet (Photo https://teachingww.com/clarinet/. Accessed 31 March 2017)

High grade clarinets are made of African blackwood, while student models are in plastic. Metallic clarinets were made in the US and Italy before 1850. This succinct description of the complexity of the structural elements of the modern clarinet give us an idea about the clarinet, an extremely difficult instrument to play well and to maintain control of its musical quality over its very wide compass with a corresponding correct intonation. 2.3.1.2

Historical Evolution of Clarinet

Some historical clarinets are shown in Fig. 2.17. Johann Christoph Denner (1655– 1707) is credited with having invented the clarinet in Nuremberg in around 1700, as an improved chalumeau or an instrument like a long oboe, able to play in the lower

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JFig. 2.17 Historical clarinets since the 18th century to 19th century. a Denner clarinet—1 key

Musical Instrument Museum Brussels—MIM, http://www.mim.be/collections. b French Clarinet 13 keys-Tournier et Goumans, 19th century, Paris (Photo J C Billing), http://collectionsdumusee. philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000013585. jpg. c Bass Clarinet–Adolph Sax, 1130 mm length 19th century, Paris (Photo J C Billing) http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/ CM/IMAGE/CMIM000013567.jpg. d Clarinet—Buffet Crampon 670 mm length 19th century, Paris (Photo J C Billing) http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http:// www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000013883.jpg

and upper register. The new instrument was provided with one key. The correctness of the tone frequency (the intonation) was solved with the embouchure by Denner who combined the reed with a tone chamber inside the tube, bringing the reed under the control of the musician’s lips and creating the typical shape of the mouthpiece. His son Jacob Denner (1681–1735) in 1740 invented the third key for the clarinet, as can be seen in Fig. 2.17a. The fourth key was added in 1760, the sixth key in 1791, and later the eighth key was added. François Simiot (1782–1839) of Lyon solved some problems related to air leaking from the felt pads, by inventing the AB trill key and in 1820 by introducing the nineteen key. Figures 2.17b–d show some clarinets made between the 18th century to the 19th century. A portrait of a clarinettist playing an 18th century clarinet is shown in Fig. 2.18. From the beginning of its invention, clarinets were made in different sizes, as a family of instruments. Figure 2.19 shows the family of the modern clarinet composed of five instruments: E flat clarinet—the smallest and highest; the A/B flat clarinet “normal “size clarinet, alto the clarinet in E flat, bass clarinet in B, contrabass clarinet (used very rarely). The clarinet was continuously improved incrementally by the makers and players using the German system and the Boehm system. The German system was founded in 1812 by Mueller. This system was used in German- speaking countries and in Austrian Habsburg Empire. Iwan Mueller (1786–1854) was an international clarinettist and a prominent figure in the development of the clarinet, with the spoon key, with leather pad and sunk -in holes with a conical ring. His clarinet had 12 keys. The German clarinet system was founded upon his work. The last great improvement of the Mueller clarinet system was achieved by the German clarinettist in Berlin, Oscar Oehler (1858–1936). Nowadays this system is known under the label of the “Oehler“ system, and can have two series of keys, 19 keys or 27 keys. The Boehm system introduced radical changes based on acoustical principles of the vibration of an air column in a tube and the calculation of the exact position of tone holes. The Boehm system for clarinet, with the newly invented ring key, surrounding a hole larger than the finger. The Boehm clarinet has 17 or 18 keys. This new system was developed and improved by the clarinettist Hyacinthe Klosé in Paris and finally, the instrument was built by the famous instrument maker Louis Auguste Buffet in 1839, as a French type of clarinet. This type of instrument is

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Fig. 2.18 «Portrait d’un clarinettiste» by Vincent Brigide 1801 (Photo Claude Germain, Musée de la Cité de la Musique Paris, France http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx? q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000033024.jpg. Accessed 6 July 2017)

played today all over the world. The main contemporaneous clarinet makers in Paris are Buffet Crampon and Henri Selmer. A very important American contribution to the development of the clarinet was achieved by Rosario Mazzeo (1911–1997) a clarinetist with the Boston Symphony, with a key system invented in 1950, by modifying the Boehm key system by using articulated B♭ to C♯ keys; an alternate left-hand A♭/E♭ key, an E♭/B♭ key playable

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Fig. 2.19 Modern clarinet family. Legend E flat clarinet—the smallest and highest; A/B flat clarinet “normal” clarinet, alto clarinet in E flat, bass clarinet in B, contrabass clarinet (very rare) (http://www.the-clarinets.net/images/klarinettenfamilie_de.jpg. Accessed 27 June 2017)

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with the thumb, first, and third fingers and D♭/A♭ key on the left-hand side. The annotated checklist of Mazzeo System clarinets is given by the National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota (http://nmmusd.org/Collections). Exclusive mass production of this clarinet was given to Selmer in 1961. Acoustically, a considerable improvement was obtained in the overblown register (fifth harmonics, from E natural upwards) due to the increased size in the tone holes of A and G# (Matei 2001). Figure 2.21 gives some details of the Mazzeo clarinet system. Finally, we have to mention the NX clarinet system developed by Arthur Benade in the late 1970s (Fig. 2.22) characterized by a unique bore shape and bell design to blend the focus and cleanness of the German sound with the brilliance and projection of the French clarinet, with superior intonation (Benade and Keefe 1996). “Arthur Benade’s clarinet represents a significant achievement across several disciplines. The knowledge of physics was combined with the knowledge of the player, made explicit through systematic playing experiments. Benade brought together personal insights from making and modifying instruments and an extensive knowledge of the history of clarinet design, thereby re-introducing beneficial

Fig. 2.20 Clarinet evolution since 1710–2010 (data from http://www.the-clarinets.net/images/ stammbaum.jpg. Accessed 28 June 2017)

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Fig. 2.21 Details of Mazzeo clarinet system (Photo Mari Carmen Garzas https://mariclarinet.files. wordpress.com/2015/04/mazzeo-system-1.jpeg. Accessed 27 June 2017)

Fig. 2.22 NX clarinet system proposed by Benade and made by Stephan Fox (Photo D Fox http:// www.sfoxclarinets.com/BenclartII.html. Accessed 27 June 2017)

aspects of older designs that had been abandoned in the course of evolution. “NX clarinet provide an existing proof that interactions between the communities of musical acousticians, performers, and instrument makers can contribute to the future development of musical instruments” (Fig. 2.20).

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2.3.2

The Saxophone

2.3.2.1

Structural Parts of the Saxophone

The saxophone has been a very new instrument in the landscape of the 19th century. The saxophone was invented in 1840 by the Adolph Antoine Joseph Sax (1814–1894). The saxophone family is composed mainly from four instruments: soprano, alto, baritone and bass saxophones (Fig. 2.23). This family can be completed with sopranissimo, sopranino, tenor, bass, contrabass, sub contrabass. The length varies between 710 mm for soprano to 1490 mm for largest instruments. For ergonomic reasons, large saxophones incorporate a U bend -bow on which the bell is tilted slightly forward. All instruments have very large conical bores with a relatively small flaring bell and a single reed mouthpiece. The half angles of the cones are large such as 1.74° for the soprano and 1.52° tenor saxophone, compared

Fig. 2.23 Saxophone. Legend a Structural elements of a saxophone (Photo http://www. instructables.com/id/How-to-play-the-Alto-Saxophone/. Accessed 28 June 2017). b tone holes of saxophone c Toneholes of the saxophones P. Mauriat saxophone with rolled tone holes, https:// upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/PMSA-67R-1.jpg P. Mauriat saxophone with straight tone holes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxophone_tone_hole#/media/File:PMSA-300.jp

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with the oboe—0.71° and bassoon 0.41°. This geometry supports the volume of saxophones, conceived by Sax to be played by military bands. The structural parts of the saxophone are: the bell, the body—which is a conical tube, the neck and the single reed mouthpiece (Fig. 2.24a). The keys are fixed on the body. The saxophone has between 20 and 23 tone holes, of various sizes. The keys are activated by key-touches. The tone holes can be straight, tapered or rolled. For the tapered holes, the circumference of the tone-hole chimneys was smaller at the point of contact with the leather pads. The rolled cup is soldered onto the saxophone’s tone hole (Fig. 2.24b). The major difference between the saxophone and other woodwinds is that the others have toneholes of about constant diameter so that they can be closed by a finger. In the saxophone, in contrast the diameter of the toneholes and covering keys is designed to fit the diameter of the bore tube at that part. This makes the intonation pitch easier to get higher in the design. Other new instruments have been conceived by Sax, such as the family of saxhorns, developed using the basic principle of proportions. As cited by Heyde (2016) Adolph Sax wrote: “proportions are governing laws and constitute the nature of the instruments; indeed, it is not the form that gives them voice, their sound quality; it is only the proportions. These proportions are, therefore, different for each of instrument”. Adolph Sax and Gustave Besson were based in Paris and were manufacturers of international renown and defended the proportions for the design of new instruments. Victor Charles Mahillon distinguished acoustician and descendent of a

Fig. 2.24 Some instruments of saxophone family (Photo http://www.siandavismusic.com.au/ saxophone-lessons.html. Accessed June 2017)

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Table 2.4 Nouveau Saxhorn alto in Eb, six valves, serial #26,497, built ca. 1863. Brussels, Musée des instruments de musique no 2469 (data from Heyde 2001)

Length (L)

Measurements (mm)

Theoretical value (mm)

Ratio referred to tube diameter d

Ratio referred to bell diameter D

1

Beginning of tube 11 [dmin] 11 1 At 1/2L 12.5 12.5 1½ At 2/3L Ext*16 16.5 2 Beginning of bow 16.7–17 22 2 (25 mm lower) Ext*22.5–23.5 At 4/5 L 3 Beginning of bell, Ext* 55–57 55 5 2 at L-D 4 End of bell (D) 135–138 137.5 12½ 5 Note *ext—outside measurements otherwise the dimensions refer to the inner diameter

well-known family of brass instrument manufacturers in Brussels also defended proportions. Wilhelm Wieprecht in Berlin patented the bass tuba in 1835 and demonstrated how he designed the new instrument “with the assistance of the monochord”. He used its division to lay out the valves for the two “mother tones, F and C” and to determine the length of the bell. Different Reichpatents in Berlin for brass instruments explained the use of proportions for the design of woodwind instruments. The geometric parameters and the ratio of them used by Adolph Sax for the saxhorns built between 1863 are given in Table 2.4. Despite the experience accumulated by those makers, in the same time scholars and artists, the law of proportions as an operative concept in the design of brass instruments, disappeared around the time of World War II. Several examples of the acoustical characteristics of saxophone are described and well-illustrated by Professor Joe Wolfe on the site of the University of New South Wales—Australia, www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/saxophoneSaxophone.

2.3.2.2

Historical Development of the Saxophone

Adolph Sax patented in Paris the saxophone family instruments since 1846, for 15 years. These instruments were designed for military bands. Since 1866 numerous manufacturers tried to improve this invention for many decades. Buffet

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Fig. 2.25 Portrait of French classical saxophonist Marcel Mule (1901–2001) (https:// florentschmittdotcom.files. wordpress.com/2016/08/ marcel-mule-frenchsaxophonist.jpg. Accessed 10 April 2018)

Crampon was the first company producing saxophones invented by Sax, besides those made by Sax himself. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the saxophone was used in symphony orchestras, operas and films (Ingham1998). A portrait of a classical saxophonist, Marcel Mule, with his instrument is shown in Fig. 2.25. Important developments in the saxophone family were made by Selmer’s firm in the 1930s and ‘40s, including offsetting tone holes and a revamping of the octave key mechanism, beginning with the balanced action. The next important step was made in the 1950s by the acoustician Charles Houvenaghel (1880–1966) based in Paris. He redeveloped the mechanics of the system to allow a number of notes (C♯, B, A, G, F and E♭) to be flattened by a semitone simply by pressing the right middle finger. However, this key-work was never very popular and is no longer in use. A turning point in establishing the saxophone as an instrument of classical music in the 20th century was related to the activity of Marcel Mule (1901–2001) professor of classic saxophone at the Paris Conservatory (Rousseau 1982). He had many pupils of classical saxophone, among them, the American Eugene Rousseau

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(born in 1932) and the Canadian Paul Bodie (1934–2007). They acted also as experts respectively for respectively Yamaha and Selmer and contributed to the improvement of modern saxophones. Rousseau’s mouthpiece is widely used.

2.3.3

The Oboe

2.3.3.1

Structural Elements of the Oboe

The soprano oboe or the treble oboe, pitched in C is the standard modern oboe of the symphony orchestra. The soprano oboe has a the similar length to the Bb clarinet, but its bore is conical, so it plays one octave higher. The body of an oboe is composed from three structural wooden parts, namely the upper joint, the lower joint and the bell. On these parts are fixed the rod system and the keys. The reed is fixed on the staple and the staple is fixed on the upper joint as described in Fig. 2.26. The members of the oboe family are the following

Fig. 2.26 Structural elements of the oboe. Legend a Schematic representation of the main parts of the oboe- (Photo https://sites.google.com/site/hcsbands/woodwind-maintenance. Accessed 31 March 2015). b Detailed view of the structural parts of the oboe

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Fig. 2.27 The members of oboe family. Legend heckelphone, bass oboe, cor anglais—English horn, oboe d’amore, regular oboe, piccolo oboe (Photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oboe#/ media/File:Musette_To_Heckel.jpg. Accessed 24 June 2017)

instruments: the regular oboe, the heckelphone, the bass oboe, the cor anglaisEnglish horn, the oboe d’amore, the piccolo oboe (Fig. 2.27). Regular oboes play in the treble or soprano range and is of about 65 cm long. The pitch of oboe is ideal for tuning. The new straight cor anglais is a typical creation of 19th century. The curved cor anglais (English horn) was used in Italy until the beginning of 20st century (Matei 2001). The oboe d’amore (oboe alto) is a slightly larger oboe and has a bell which is in pear shaped. The heckelphone about 1.3 m long, was invented by Wilhelm Heckel following the requirement of Wagner in 1879, for an oboe pitched an octave lower than the normal oboe. However, the heckelphone is not currently used and is a rarity in symphonic orchestras. The Wiener oboe has specific Austrian design and was first developed in the 1880s by Josef Hajek. The Wiener oboe has a wider bore, a shorter and a broader reed and a specific fingering system. The Wiener oboe is used exclusively by the Vienna Philharmonic.

2.3.3.2

Historical Development of the Oboe

Historical development of the oboe family is described among others by Matei (2001), Sadie and Tyrrell (2001).

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Since Antiquity oboes have been used for ceremonial purposes. In the Middle Ages, instruments from oboe family—pommers, bombardours, chalumeaux, musettes- were played by bands of travelling musicians, minstrels and troubadours and by military bands which played the shawms. The body of the shawm was made in one cylindrical tube and expanded at the end into a bell. The internal tube profile was conical, for about four-fifths of its length below which it flared into a fairly smooth curve. The compass of the oboes varied between two and three octaves. The instruments were made in various sizes to form a consort. In the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance varieties of oboes were used for dancing music. Double reed instruments were highly developed in the 16th and 17th centuries, and were employed in different ways, in different European courts in France, Prussia. Vienna, etc. At the French court of King Louis XIV musical activity was highly prized, the virtuosi of that time such as the Philidors, the Hotteterres and many other musicians were employed by the Grande Ecurie du Roi. This institution was divided into six corps: the trumpets, the fifes and the drums, the violins, shawms, sackbuts and cornetts and the krummhorns. In 1671, the oboe was first included for the performance of the first French pastoral opera, Pomone, by Cambert (1628–1677). Since then, the oboe with two or three keys has been continuously improved. Three key oboes were used mostly between 1660 and 1722. “Douze grands hautbois du Roi” (12 oboes of the King) played for the coronation of Louis XV in 1722 in the Cathedral of Reims. This Baroque oboe was used in musical works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The two-keyed oboe of Mozart’s orchestra was played as late as 1820. During the first quarter of the 19th century six new keys were added. The most advanced oboe was then built according to the ideas of Josef Sellner (1787–1843) a member of the Court orchestra in Vienna, using 13 keys. Typical oboes were made in Paris by Thomas Lot and Charles Delusse between 1740 and 1789 and in Dresden by Karl Grenser (1720–1885) and Jacob Grundmann (1727–1800). French makers cultivated a refined tone, while German makers favoured the robustness. An improvement using four keys was developed in Paris under Antoine Sallantin (1754–1831), an oboe virtuoso and professor at Paris Conservatoire, and by his successor, Auguste Gustave Vogt (1781–1870). Between 1840 and 1880 the French oboe was completely reformed with particular attention to the bore, to the placing of the tone holes following Boehm’s ideas, and to the pillars which were screwed directly into the wall of the tube. “Boehm’s principle was that in making wind instruments with side—holes, the number, size and position of the holes should be established first, the means of controlling them being left to second place” (Matei 2001). Boehm designed such key work for oboe and bassoon. The oboes made in Germany by Sellner had high qualities as a solo voice and was very good in ensemble. The most important concern of German oboe makers in the 19th century was the tuning. The Koch–Sellner oboe model included a tuning slide adjusted by a fine-pitched screw. In the 20th century in France oboes progressed in the direction of a more powerful tone, and towards a greater mechanical facility. The oboe developed a slightly larger bore and the upper joint had a thicker wall, the tube became longer, to produce the low B flat.

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It is worth mentioning the Viennese oboe, a fifteen-keyed instrument, not much improved from Seller’s model. Viennese makers retained the 18th century baluster at the top of the upper joints, with the hope that the large mass of wood makes the tube less sensitive to temperature changes. Some historical oboes are shown in Fig. 2.28. A portrait of a Baroque oboist is shown in Fig. 2.29.

2.3.4

The Bassoon

2.3.4.1

Structural Elements of the Bassoon

The bassoon family is composed of only two instruments: the bassoon in range Bb1 and the double bassoon or contrabassoon with range Bbo to C#4. The contrabassoon is used quite exclusively for symphonic orchestral performances. (The small bassoonbassoon quinte, in French- is used for the young students.) Bassoon design was two types, French or German (Kopp 2012). The German bassoon type is more commonly used. It is worth mentioning the contemporaneously renewed interest for the French bassoon. Figure 2.30 shows the main structural elements of the bassoon, namely the bell which is about 4 cm diameter, the extending upward, the bass joint, the boot, the wing joint (made of maple—sycamore or sugar maple), the bocal, or the crook (a metallic piece) about 8.7 mm in diameter at the wide end and 4 mm at the narrow end and the double reeds. Inside the corpus the bore is conical, therefore the conical air column is sharply bent at the bottom. Fine period French bassoons are made in Brazilian rosewood. The end of the bell is usually fitted with a ring of precious metal or ivory, or plastic. The air connection between the sections is made by tendons wrapped in cork, fitting into sockets. The reeds are fixed on the bocal which is inserted into a socket at the top of the wing joint. To prevent wood degradation from moisture damage the interior of the wing and boot joints are lined with hard rubber. The external parts of the bassoon are varnished. The reeds of woodwind instruments are described in Chap. 4. The bocal plays a very important role in the life of the bassoonist. The bocal should provide a perfect intonation with a pleasant tone color throughout the playing range of the instrument. Musicians can detect the large variations in bocal quality having a quite identical geometry (Grothe 2013). The key system is relatively simple. Some of the tone holes are without any mechanism (three of these being in the wing joint, the hole of B; the hole of A is covered by a ring). In the wing joint the holes which are drilled at a slanting angle in order that they can be reached by the fingers of the left hand. For protection for condensation the wing joint and the narrower of the two tubes in the butt joint are linen with rubber or plastic. Student models are made in plastic or ebonite. Experimental bassoons have been in metal but was never adopted by musicians.

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JFig. 2.28 Some historical oboes. a Oboe from Poitou, France 18th century, 430 mm length, Photo J C

Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/ media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000014104.jpg. b Oboe tenor “vox humana” London,18th century, made by V. Panormo, 757 mm, Photo J C Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/ image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000013702.jpg. c Cor anglais, 19th century, anonymous, France length 800 mm, Photo J C Billing, http://collectionsdumusee. philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM0000137 02.jpg. d Oboe baritone, 19th century, F. Triébert, Paris, France, length 730 mm, Photo J C Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/ IMAGE/CMIM000014103.jpg

Fig. 2.29 Portrait of an unknown Baroque oboist by an unknown painter, https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/List_of_oboists#/media/File:Portrait_eines_Oboisten_MIM.jpg

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Fig. 2.30 Structural elements of the bassoon. A Constitutive parts of a dissambled bassoon (Photo http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagotto#/media/File:Bassoon_parts.jpg; 31 March 2015) Legend (a) the bell, (b) the long join, (c) wing joint, (d) the boot, (e) bocal. B Schematic representation Legend 1 reed; 2 bocal; 3 wing joint; 4 the boot or butt; 5 the bass joint or long joint; 6 the bell (Photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassoon. Accessed 6 April 2015)

2.3.4.2

Historical Development of the Bassoon

It seems that the first bassoon was made in Dresden around 1696 (Langwill 1927). Very few instruments survived from that period. The instrument was used to support the voice in choral music (Camden 1962). The ancestor of the bassoon was the dulcian, first mentioned in 1592 in the book “Prattica di Musica: by Lodovico Zacconi (1555–1627). It consisted of a single tub of wood made in maple or a fruit

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wood, oval in section, a meter tall drilled with two bores connected at the bottom so as to form a continuous conical tube. The top was slightly extended to form a flared bell. The finger holes were drilled obliquely to accommodate the span of the fingers. In England the dulcian was known as the curtal. Over fifty dulcians can be seen in different museums of musical instruments around the world (Matei 2001). In 1774 Mozart wrote the bassoon concerto four keyed bassoon (F, D, B flat and G#). The addition of the fifth and sixth keys (E flat and F#) occurred around 1765, the addition of the seventh key operated by the thumb in about 1803 and the addition of the eighth keys was in about 1807. Under the guidance of the acoustician Gotfried Weber (1779–1839) Carl Almenräder (1786–1839) improved the bassoon with fifteen keys. The improving proposed in 1820 by Carl Almenräder to the German bassoon have not been superseded to this day. However, efforts to improve structural details of the bassoon, have been done continuously. Significant contributions based on experiments were carried out in the 1850s and 1890s. Among these contributions we can cite the bassoon presented at London Exhibition by the Italian Giuseppe Tamplini and his co-worker Cornelius Ward. The bassoon presented at Paris Exhibition, in 1855 designed by Theobald Boehm and the maker Frédéric Triébert and the bassoonist Angelo Marzoli. Another brilliant innovative contribution was that of Friedrich Kruspe of Erfurt, with the patented “Reform Fagott” in 1892. Models of these bassoons were discussed by Waterhouse (1997). The German bassoon’s history is associated with the Heckel family and firm. Wilhelm Heckel (1865–1909) modified the bore of the bassoon. The wall of the bore should be smooth and free of moisture, the bore should be oiled from time to time, vulcanised rubber should be line the parts more affected by moisture. In France, many bassoon makers contributed to the evolution of the instrument in direct connection with the Paris Conservatoire. The rollers invented by César Janssen in 1823 facilitate the movement from one key to another, making playing easier. Eugen Jancourt (1815–1900) together with Buffet Crampon replaced the key saddles with the key rods and pillars. Letellier, professor at the Paris Conservatoire 1922–1933 designed a new crook, for playing with greater accuracy. However, there is not a general agreement on the effectiveness of various crooks (or bocals). Heckel listed some 900 different varieties of crook. In 1850 Boehm applied acoustical principles to bassoon design for the positioning of the holes. Charles Louis Triébert constructed a bassoon following Boehm’s principles which was awarded the Prize Medal. His brother Frédéric Triébert in 1872 patented some improvements to the bassoon and was awarded the Gold Medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. Some historical bassoons are presented in Fig. 2.31 and among them one made by F. Triébert. Attempts at bassoons having a metallic corpus with covered holes, were made in Belgium between 1820 and 1840 by Charles Joseph Sax (1791–1865), without real success. Lecomte & Cie, in Paris constructed a bassoon of German silver, which had increasing sonority, the low notes were good, the middle notes were like a normal bassoon, but the third octave had a metallic sound more like a saxophone.

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JFig. 2.31 Some historical bassoons. a Bassoon made in Paris 1870, Photo JC Billing,

http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/ IMAGE/CMIM000014283.jpg. b Bassoon by Winnen, Paris 1820, Photo JC Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/ IMAGE/CMIM000013968.jpg. c Bassoon made in Paris 18th century, Photo JC Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/media/CM/ IMAGE/CMIM000014283.jpg. d Bassoon quinte, by I Kraus, Germany, 18th century, Photo JC Billing, http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/image.ashx?q=http://www.mimo-db.eu/ media/CM/IMAGE/CMIM000013564.jpg

Fig. 2.32 Portraits of bassoonists. Legend a Portraits of bassoonists of 18th century. The Munich bassoonist, Felix Reiner (1732–1783) by Jakob Horemans, 1774 (http://www.jimstockigtinfo.com/ arias_with_obbligato_bassoon/index.php. Accessed 6 July 2017). b Portrait of a bassoonist of the 19th century by the Belgian Gerard Jozef Portielje (1856–1929) (https://rceliamendonca.files. wordpress.com/2015/03/the-bassoon-player-by-gerard-portielje1.jpg. Accessed 6 July 2017)

This instrument was presented at the Paris Exhibition in 1889 but was never used for musical performances (Matei 2001). Baines (1991) noted that the German system for Heckel bassoons is uniform in response from the piano to forte, the French bassoon (Buffet) is more refined and vocal, but it is much harder to control, and the quality of reeds is crucial. Figure 2.32 shows the portraits of two bassoonists of the 18th and 19th centuries. The instruments are well depicted. The evolution of the instrument is evident.

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2.4

2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Structural Elements of Air Jet Driven Instruments

2.4.1

The Recorder

2.4.1.1

Structural Elements of the Recorder

The recorder is an historical instrument gaining in popularity with the revival of groups of instruments and repertoires of Baroque music during the second half of the 20th century. The recorder has been known in Europe since the Middle Ages and was very popular during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The musical characteristics of recorder were not appropriated for romantic music. However, during the 20th centuries, the instrument was and is now very popular for educational purposes. The sound of the recorder is very pleasant and pure. The acoustics of the recorder was commented in reference books by Martin (1994), Fletcher and Rossing (2010), Chaigne and Kergomard (2016). Several recorders compose a consort, as can be seen in Fig. 2.33, namely the bass, the tenor, the alto/treble, the soprano/descant, and the sopranino. Recorders for professional musicians are made mainly of hardwoods. Historical instruments are made of ivory. Educational instruments largely used in elementary schools are made of plastics. Figure 2.34a shows a transverse section of a soprano recorder composed of three main structural elements, the mouthpiece, the body and the bell. The structure of the mouth piece is shown in Fig. 2.34b. The finger-holes are disposed as shown in Fig. 2.34a, three holes for each hand, a thumb hole for the left hand and a little finger hole for the right hand. On big instruments there is a simple key to bring the holes within the reach. The thumb serves as a normal hole when open (Fletcher and Rossing 2010). Tuning of recorders is a very fine operation and requires the adjustment of the diameter of the finishing holes along the length of the instrument as shown in Fig. 2.35. Finally, each hole is cleaned with small rolls of abrasive paper of 240, 320 and 400.

Fig. 2.33 Consort of recorders. Legend from top to bottom: bass of about 130 cm length, tenor, alto/treble, soprano/descant, sopranino of about 24 cm length (Photo Saskii, 20 February 2007 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Different_Sizes_of_Recorders.JPG

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(a)

(b)

Fig. 2.34 Structural elements of a recorder (Photo Philppe Bolton http://www.flute-a-bec.com/ accordgb.html. Accessed 1 July 2017). Legend a Transverse section of a recorder. Legend 0–7 tone holes; 8 the bell. b Detail of the mouthpiece of the recorder. Legend 1-the windway; 2-the block; 3-the labium; 4 and 5-the chamfers. The chamfers 4 and 5 determine width of air jet and its orientation of flow to the labium 3

Fig. 2.35 Tuning of the holes of a recorder (Photo Philppe Bolton http://www.flute-a-bec.com/ accordgb.html. Accessed 1 July 2017). a Enlarging the hole with a corse round file. b Fine adjustment with a tuning knife

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2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Historical evolution of the recorder

The recorder is a period instrument having a very long history. The construction of recorders typical for Renaissance of 15th and 16th centuries, utilise a cylindrical bore. Baroque of 17th century recorders have a tapering cylindrical bore, with two or three or more separately jointed sections and a bell. The instruments were decorated by a turned profile. Baroque instruments were constructed in France following the art of famous musicians and instruments makers of the Hotteterre French family. They were active in the musical institution called la Grande Ecurie of the Kings of France, Louis XIV and Louis XV. Another centre of interest for recorders making was in Nuremberg with the Denner family. In England, the better known makers of recorders were Thomas Stanesby and his son (Baines 1957). During the 20th century, Carl Dolmetsch in England, initiated the mass production of recorder made of bakelite for musical educational purposes. Since 1920 numerous other firms in Germany—Peter Harlan, in Japan Zen-On Music Comp. Ltd and other countries produced recorders for students. The main materials used for high quality recorders, reproductions of historical instruments are grenadille (Mozambican ebony), curly maple and ivory (Fig. 2.36). Very good instruments for professionals interested in Ancient music were produced by the German American maker Fredrich von Huene (1929–2016) and the Australian maker Frederick (Fred) Morgan (1940–1999) (Ehlert and Hasse-Moeck 1999, (http://www.recorderhomepage.net/databases/Historic_Makerslist.php?start= 121). Fred Morgan is highly regarded as an eminent recorder maker of the 20st century. His instruments made since 1960 are appreciated for their musical quality and craftmanship (Fig. 2.37a). Some of his instruments have been pitched at 410 Hz or 415 Hz (Rothe 2007). In Fig. 2.37b. we can see Australian virtuoso Genevieve Lacey playing recorder with a group of young musicians. Frans Brűggen (1934–2014) achieved an international recognition as recorder virtuoso and had an important contribution to the revival of the recorder and it repertoire of Early Age music (O’Kelley 1990). He had a big collection of historical recorders (Thomson 2001) and played also recorders made by Fred Morgan. Musical repertoire of the recorder was enriched by the composers of the 20th century like Hindemith, Britten, Berio and others.

2.4.2

The Flute

2.4.2.1

Structural Elements of the Concert Flute

The flute is also one of the ancient’s musical instrument of human kinds (Toff 2012). It has a relatively simple as geometry, is composed from a cylindrical pipe, with tone holes along its lengths and stopped at one end and with a blowing hole. The concert flute is a side—blown woodwind instrument and its sound is produced

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Fig. 2.36 Main materials for recorders—grenadille, curly maple and ivory. a Recorder copy Stanesby (18th century) in 440 Hz made of grenadille (Mozambic ebony)—French maker Vincent Bernolin 2006 (https://www.bernolin.fr/galerie/stanesby-grenadille-4.jpg). b Recorder copy Bressan (1663–1731) in 415 Hz, made of curly maple—French maker Vincent Bernolin 2006 (https://www.bernolin.fr/galerie/bressan%20415%205.jpg. Accessed 15 April 2018). c Recorder copy Bressan (1663–1731) in 415 Hz, made of ivory—French maker Vincent Bernolin 2006 (https://www.bernolin.fr/galerie/bressan%20415%20ivoire%205.jpg. Accessed 15 April 2018)

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Fig. 2.37 About the recorder in Australia. a Treble (alto) recorder pitched at 415 Hz, made by Fred Morgan jn Melbourne in 1971, now in Powerhouse Museum Sydney, Australia (https:// d3ecqbn6etsqar.cloudfront.net/rtiCa1rW7MKC9iCyfyqf44YYfzE=/3000x0/218794.jpg. Accessed 14 April 2018). b Australian virtuoso Genevieve Lacey playing recorder with the Smalley Chamber Orchestra at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp. (https://i2.wp.com/ www.cutcommonmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_1979.jpg?zoom=1.25&resize= 643%2C362&ssl=1. Accessed 12 April 2018)

by blowing air across a hole in its hollow corpus. The historical evolution of flute is related in reference books such as Sadie and Tyrrell (2001), Baines (1991). Renaissance flutes made of wood were cylindrical, but Baroque flutes had a more elaborated geometry, with a slightly tapered conical bore. The corpus was divided into two or more parts, and the head was nearly cylindrical. Along its length the flute had six main finger holes, and one more hole for the right hand. Renaissance and Baroque flutes were made in fruit wood. Flutes evolved continuously in the 18th and 19th centuries, as did the oboe. The flutes were equipped with keys between and below the six-normal finger holes to play chromatic semitones. The modern concert flutes are made in metallic alloys of silver, gold or very rear in platinum. The modern flute concert flute (Fig. 2.38) is composed of

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Fig. 2.38 The modern concert flute (Photo http://www.musicshowcaseonline.com/images/flutediagram.jpg. Accessed 2 July 2017)

three main parts: the headjoint with the lip plate and the embouchure hole, the body and the foot. The keys are interconnected with a rod system. The cylindrical bore of the flute is 19 mm in diameter, for the body and the foot. Headjoint bore is only 17 mm in diameter the embouchure. The wall thickness of the headjoint is 0.3 mm. The acoustics of flute has been discussed in reference articles and books (Benade and French 1965; Benade 1976; Coltman 1968; Campbell et al. 2004; Chaigne and Kergomard (2016), Fletcher and Rossing 2010; Chaigne and Kergomard 2016). It has been stated that for the tonal quality of the flute and for its tuning the following three parameters are important: the bore profile of the head joints, the size of the cavity above the embouchure hole, or in other words, the cavity between the embouchure hole and the stopped end, and, the shape of the embouchure hole. Across this hole the air jet is directed. The sizes of the embouchure hole for modern concert flutes are 10 mm
12 mm
5 mm in height. The walls of the embouchure are cut at about 7°. This undercut angle as well as the finesse of finishing of the embouchure, the plate curvature and the edge sharpness have critically important effects on the tone quality and characteristic response of each concert flute. Some instruments of the modern flute family are shown in Fig. 2.39. These instruments are very different in their pitch and in their size. Modern flute is pitched in C and is about 67 cm long. Piccolo is a half size flute and is pitched in the key of C or D♭, has a conical body with a cylindrical head. Alto flute is in G, uses the same fingerings as the C flute. Alto flute headjoints are built in ‘curved’ and ‘straight’ versions. Bass flute of about 146 cm is pitched in the key of C, one octave below the concert flute, Bass flute is made with a J-shaped head joint. Other instruments belonging to flute family are the contrabass, double contrabass and hyperbass flutes. Figure 2.40 shows two portraits of flutists, namely of a 18th century flute player and that of Theobald Boehm. 2.4.2.2

Historical Development of the Flute

This section will succinctly present historical data related to the evolution of the concert flute since 17th century. By the early sixteenth century the transverse flute was well known in Europe. For example, the variety of flutes used in England during the 16th century was mentioned in the inventory of seventy-two flutes, made in 1547, the year of King Henry VII’s death (Campbell et al 2004).

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Fig. 2.39 Some instruments of the western concert flute family. Legend a Concert flute—18 k gold made by Louis Lot, 67 cm. b Alto flute about 146 cm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alto_ flute#/media/File:Alto_flute_006.jpg. c Piccolo- about 34 cm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Members_of_the_western_concert_flute_family#/media/File:Piccolo.jpg. d Contra alto flute in G about 160 cm http://www.kingmaflutes.com/mySite/contralto.html

Fig. 2.40 Portraits of flutists. Legend a A 18th century flute player by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891) (https://www.magnoliabox.com/products/the-flute-player-xir154693. Accessed 10 April 2017). b Portrait circa 1852 of Theobald Boehm (1794–1881) (Photo Franz Hanfstaengl (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Theobald_B%C3%B6hm.jpg . Accessed 11 September 2018)

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In the 17th and 18th centuries woodwind music was particularly appreciated at French court in Paris and Versailles. The six-holes cylindrical flute was then used as we can see in Mersenne’s book “Harmonie Universelle” published in Paris in 1637. This instrument was improved with a conical bore, which gave a softer sound. The flute was made in three pieces, the head, the body and the foot. The conical bore with a cylindrical head-joint was developed by the Hotteterre family of musicians and instrument makers. Jacques Hotteterre (1674–1763) wrote the first treatise on transverse flute, published in 1707. He mentioned the most popular materials, boxwood and ivory, and also noted the necessity of making precise finger holes. Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) famous at the Prussian court added an extra key to the flute, invented a tuning slide and introduced new precision to the finger holes and stoppers. The concert flute had a spectacular development in the second part of the 18th century and the first part of 19th century. In the early 19th century renown makers such as Louis Drouet (1792–1873) and Jean Louis Tulou (1786–1865) in Paris, and Charles Nicholson (1795–1837) in London made eight keyed flutes. It seems that William Gordon, a Captain in a regiment of Charles X’s Swiss Guard was first able to understand the vibration of the air column of a flute, to calculate the frequencies corresponding to each hole and to design an instrument which was submitted to the makers Rudal and Rose in London. He calculated the position of the tone holes of the flute. The was a significant new discovery, each note was in tune and the flute has a diatonic scale. However, calculation is only the first step in the design of the flute, and other aspects such as tone quality, easy of blowing, initiation of the transient sounds, composition of the partials in the steady state pitch, etc. are equally important (Nederveen 1969). These aspects are solved empirically by the makers, based on their experience mostly orally transmitted from one generation to another. As for the oboe, a key system was progressively acquired to allow playing accurate chromatic semitones. Theobald Boehm (1794–1881), a virtuoso flutist and composer at the Bavarian court was probably the first highly professional musician strongly involved in acoustical studies at Munich University. In 1832, Theobald Boehm produced the well-known “conical Boehm flute”, which was really the greatest breakthrough in the modern history of flute design. As Matei (2001) noted “beside enlarging the tone holes for greater dynamic power, Boehm’s goal was to obtain full venting for the tones of the flute by having all the keys normally remaining open. His mechanism completely reversed the closed— key system that had evolved from the one-key flute. The problem of controlling 13 open tone—holes with 9 fingers was solved by an ingenious ring—key mechanism that enabled one finger to operate another key while closing its own hole. Boehm interconnected his rings in such a way that a more logical system of consecutive finger motions for the chromatic scale could be employed”. In 1847 Boehm invented a cylindrical flute with a tapered head joint, provided with a system of normally open keys covering very larger tone holes. These holes should have at least ¾ diameter of the bore, asking for the introduction of the covered action (finger plates). Only one hole was excepted, the upper D’s it had to be smaller than

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other holes and placed high up on the flute. These exceptional improvements finished with Boehm’s reward in 1850 for the best flute at the Great Exhibition in Paris for the best flute. It is important to mention that no substantial flute improvement was done since then. Finally, Boehm described his achievement in his reference book “The flute and flute-playing in acoustical, technical, and artistic aspects» published in 1871 in German..The fingering system for flute was adopted also for oboe and clarinet. Boehm flutes have been made of wood. A replica of a Boehm flute is given in Fig. 2.41. Concert flutes on wood have been made still in 1920th, then metallic flutes have been manufactured. Metallic flutes had some advantages such as smooth inner interfaces, freedom from cracking and possibility of mass manufacturing for the school flute. Tubing thickness for flutes‘ walls varies between 0.27 and 0.48 mm depending on the nature of the alloys used (Table 2.5). The choice of tubing thickness is an individual one and depends upon playing style of the flutist. Metals and alloys used for flute manufacturing included: – copper nickel alloy used for cheap school flutes. The flutes are robust and works well. – silver alloy (92.5% is sterling silver, by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, often copper). This alloy gives strength to the tube. As disadvantages of some blackening of the surface under the air pollution. Most professional flutes are made on this alloy. – gold silver alloy (mostly gold, 9, 14, 18 and 24 k gold) looks impressive and doesn’t tarnish. – platinum—really, just a “special” for precious metals exhibition, but plays well. The impetus for improvement of flute in Europe was strong in 19th century and other inventors suggested improvements. Among them Abel Siccama in 1851 presented a conical flute with large holes but fitted with a minimum of keys. Consequently, the virtuoso Sidney Pratten adopted the “Siccama“ flute with 8 keys. In 1856 Pratten produced a new flute, combining his fingerings of the 8 keys flute with Boehm’s cylindrical tube, and obtained a flute with 17 keys with large holes. Until the beginning of the 20th century this flute type was produced in England and was very popular in Australia, US and England. Another maker Richard Carte (1808–1891) in England with the firm Rudall & Rose, introduced some improvements to Boehm’s flute. This flute was superior in its facility of execution and was the preferred instrument of English players until the middle of the 20th century. In France, we mention the flutes made by Godefroy with perforated key plates and with an annular pad and the flutes made by Louis Lot in Paris, of very fine workmanship, real art objects. These flutes were preferred in France and are still highly valued. The ring pad design is now used by most professional flute players. During the 20th century in the UK other improvements were proposed by Alexander Murray in 1948 in collaboration with the mathematician related to the facilities for the right-hand. In 1950 Albert Cooper introduced “the Cooper scale”,

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Fig. 2.41 Replica of a Boehm flute made of grenadillo by the French maker Vincent Bernolin. a General view (https://www.bernolin.fr/images/traversiere4.jpg. Accessed 15 April 2018). b Silver key work (https://www.bernolin.fr/images/traversiere5.jpg. Accessed 15 April 2018). c embouchure in wood (https://www.bernolin.fr/images/embouchure1.jpg. Accessed 15 April 2018)

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Table 2.5 Tubing thickness for flutes made of different alloys (data from Miyazawa Comp. Japan (http://www. miyazawa.com/media-library/ educational-articles/options/ standard-vs-heavy-walltubing/. Accessed 15 April 2018)

Metals and alloy Nickel and Nickel Silver Sterling Silver/958 Silver Gold Silver Alloy 9 Karat Gold 14 Karat Gold 18 Karat Gold 24 Karat Gold Platinum

Tubing thickness for flutes (mm) 0.27 0.30 0.35 0.38 0.40 0.48 X X

X X

X X X X X X

mathematically calculated, with equal size tone holes. His flutes have powerful low and middle registers but a less good top register. Another interesting contribution around 1980 was that of the Danish flute maker Johan Brögger. He modified the Boehm flute, with non- rotating shafts, for a quiet sound and less friction between the moving parts; the spring could be adjusted individual. The flutes are produced by the Japanese company Miyazawa (http://www.miyazawa.com/media-library/ educational-articles/options/the-brogger-system-advantage/. Accessed 15 April 2018). Nowadays the flute is a very popular musical instrument and numerous firms in Japan, Germany and US produce concert flutes of excellent quality and very good instruments for students. Table 2.6 summarizes the characteristic parameters of wind instruments namely, the main materials used, the mouthpiece type, the tubing, the bore, the valves and keys and the bell type.

2.4.3

The Pipe Organ

The pipe organ is the most complex musical instrument and is the only one in continuous evolution, since antiquity. In the Roman empire the organ was used in theatres, games, the circus and banquets. During the Middle Ages, between the 10th and 11th centuries, in Western Europe the pipe organ became a liturgical instrument for magnificent Roman and later, Gothic Cathedrals. These organs were small and quite primitive in their conception. During the 13th century organs were equipped with keys. The 14th century saw installation of two organs in the same cathedral. For example, there were two organs installed in Westminster, a great organ in the west end and a smaller positive organ in the choir (Clutton and Niland 1982). Some organs had two manuals. These new technological advances in the construction of organs continuously developed the performing potential of the instrument. During the 15th century new churches and cathedrals were built, and organs were part of the usual furniture of these monuments. A large organ had thousands of pipes, and

Material

Mouthpiece

Cup-shaped mouthpiece

Nickel silver (mouthpiece), brass (leadpipe)

Brass, gold brass, nickel silver

Bass trumpet in Bb

Viennese horn

Funnel-shaped mouthpiece

Small cup-shaped mouthpiece

Brass (tubing), gold brass (leadpipe)

Trumpet

Brass instruments—Lip driven instruments Piccolo trumpet Brass (tubing), gold Small cup-shaped in high Bb/A brass (leadpipe) mouthpiece

Instrument

Length 3.7 m, coiled several times, predominantly conical, detachable F crook, length 105–120 cm

Length 65–72 cm, predominantly cylindrical; coiled form “A” tube (transposition to A) Length 65–72 cm, predominantly cylindrical; coiled form “A” tube (transposition to A) Length approx. 257 cm, predominantly cylindrical

Tubing

A little wider than the Bb trumpet, inner diameter approx. 11.4 mm Narrow, inner diameter in cylindrical tubing approx. 10.8 mm

Narrow, inner diameter 10.4– 11 mm

Narrow, inner diameter 10.4– 11 mm

Bore

Three Vienna valves

3 rotary valves (lowering pitch by 1, ½, 1½ steps)

Three valves, Périnet system

Three valves, Périnet system

Valves, key

(continued)

Rim diameter 30.5 cm, widely flared and parabolically curved

Rim diameter approx. 22 cm

Rim diameter 9.4–10 cm

Rim diameter 9.4–10 cm

Bell

Table 2.6 Some characteristic parameters of wind instruments (data from Vienna Symphonic Library http://www.vsl.co.at/. Accessed 13 June 2015)

2.4 Structural Elements of Air Jet Driven Instruments 67

Mainly brass, often gold brass; nickel silver

Brass, gold brass, nickel silver, gold lacquer

Brass, gold brass, nickel silver, gold lacquer

Contrabass trombone in F

Bass tuba in F

Contrabass tuba in Bb

Large cup mouthpiece

Deep cup mouthpiece

Cup-shaped mouthpiece, a little larger than that of the tenor trombone

Cup-shaped mouthpiece, a little larger than that of the tenor trombone

Tenor trombone in Bb

Bass trombone in Bb/F

Mouthpiece

Cup-shaped mouthpiece

Material

Mainly brass, often gold brass; nickel silver (inner and outer slides) Mainly brass, often gold brass; nickel silver (inner and outer slides)

Instrument

Table 2.6 (continued) Tubing

Length 540 cm, conical along entire length

Length approx. 370 cm, cylindrical, conical at the bell Length 350– 400 cm, conical along entire length

Length approx. 269–290 cm, mostly cylindrical

Length approx. 269 cm, mostly cylindrical

Bore

Very wide, inner diameter 19–21 mm

Very wide, inner diameter 17.3–19.5 mm

Narrow, inner diameter approx. 12.6– 13.9 mm A little wider than the tenor trombone, inner diameter 13.8 mm Narrow, a little wider than the bass trombone

Valves, key

Four to six valves (lowering pitch by 1, ½, 1½ steps, fourth-valve, fifth-valve—this can also be a compensating valve with a wide whole step. The 6th valve is a compensating valve with a wide half step) Five valves (lowering pitch by 1, ½, 1½ steps, fourth, fifth). On instruments with six valves: 5th valve wide whole step; 6th valve wide half step

Two valves (Eb and Bb), Ab crook (whole-tone crook)

Slide Two valves, lowering the pitch by a fourth (to F) and a minor third (to D)

Slide

Bell

(continued)

Rim diameter 38–48 cm

Rim diameter 35.5–41.9 cm

Rim diameter approx. 29– 30 cm

Rim diameter 22.8–26.7 cm

Rim diameter 20.5–22 cm

68 2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

Wagner tuba

Horn or French horn, or cor anglais

Wood (grenadilla, rosewood, cocus, vulcanite or boxwood)

Air jet driven instruments Flute or, concert Silver, nickel silver, flute gold, platinum (less usually grenadilla, coco wood or a combination of wood and metal) Woodwind reed instruments Oboe Wood: Grenadilla, Brazilian rosewood, cocus, vulcanite or boxwood

Material

Brass, gold brass, nickel silver, gold lacquer

Instrument

Table 2.6 (continued)

Mouthpiece

Tubing

Bore

Length 90–95 cm (incl. mouthpiece), conica

Narrow, inner diameter 4.1 mm (French oboe), 4.4–4.9 mm (Viennese oboe) Narrow, inner diameter a little wider than the oboe’s

Length 64.5– 66.5 cm, conical

Double reed; two reeds lying close together (material: Arundo donax), concussion reeds

Double-reed mouthpiece: two reeds lying close together (wider than on the oboe

Medium, inner diameter approx. 19 mm

Narrow (comparable to the horn’s ) inner diameter approx. 10.8– 11 mm

Length 67–68 cm, mostly cylindrical, straight

In Bb: 290 cm long In F: 380 cm long Conical

Rectangular with rounded corners

Funnel-shaped mouthpiece (horn mouthpiece)

Conservatoire system (French system)

Conservatoire system (French oboe); Viennese mechanism (Viennese oboe)

Keys/finger-holes Boehm mechanism Open keys (French model)

(continued)

Pear-shaped (bulb bell)

Gently flared (French oboe); bell-shaped (Viennese oboe)

–

Bell Medium flare

Valves, key In Bb: 4 valves, lowering pitch by 1, ½, 1½ steps, fourth-valve. Rotary valve unit In F: 4 valves, lowering pitch by 1, ½, 1½ steps, fifth-valve

2.4 Structural Elements of Air Jet Driven Instruments 69

Maple (wood body), metal (bocal, connections), brass (bell)

Bass clarinet Tuning in Bb

Contrabassoon, double bassoon; Tuning in C

Double reed, 15.5 mm wide: two reeds lying close together (material: arundo donax), striking reed Double reed: two reeds lying close together

Tube: wood (rosewood, grenadilla) or silverplated metal; keywork: nickel silver, silver; bell: brass Maple (wood body), brass, nickel silver (bocal, keys, U-bend)

Clarinet in Bb

Bassoon

Mouthpiece

Beak-shaped mouthpiece made of ebonite or cocus wood with a single reed (width up to 12.5 mm, material: arundo donax) Mainly cylindrical, barrel-shaped bulge below the mouthpiece (barrel) Beak-shaped mouthpiece with a single reed, larger than the clarinet’s

Material

Tube: Ebonite or grenadilla or metal; keywork: nickel silver, brass, silver or gold

Instrument

Table 2.6 (continued) Tubing

Tube Mainly cylindrical, crook between the mouthpiece and the body; angled bell Total length Approx. 132 cm Length 250– 259 cm, U-shaped, conical; Height Approx. 135 cm Length approx. 550 cm, double U form, conical Total height Approx. 135 cm

Approx. 66 cm (clarinet in Bb), approx. 71 cm (clarinet in A)

Bore

Very narrow; tapers from 4 mm (wing) to 40 mm (bell) Narrow

Medium, inner diameter roughly twice as large as the clarinet’s

Medium, inner diameter approx. 12.7 mm

Valves, key

Bell

Cylindrical, finished with an ornamental rim of ivory or plastic No taper (C bell) or flaring (A bell)

24–27 keys, 5 open fingerholes (Heckel bassoon)

Approx. 21 keys (Heckel bassoon)

Funnel-shaped, angled upward; rim diameter 13 cm

Funnel-shaped

Boehm or Oehler mechanism (as on the clarinet)

24 tone holes; German (Oehler clarinet) or French keywork (Boehm clarinet)

70 2 Organologic Description of Wind Instruments

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71

one pipe for each note. The pipes were made in tin alloy or in wood. The Classical organ had a series of up to five octave manuals, and the pedal had 32 notes. The manuals and the pedal were controlled by valves that released air under pressure from the wind chest. The manuals are known as Choir, Great, Swell, Solo and Echo. During the Renaissance, the case work of organs was magnificently decorated, with precious wood species, inlaid, ivory, gold, silver, etc. The stops were shaped with human faces. Organ construction was explained in reference books such as those published in (1608) by Antegnati (in Italian), in 1619 by Praetorius (in German) and in (1768) by Dom Bedos de Celles, (in French). Interest in organ building and organ music was sustained over centuries (Audsley 1965; Wallmann 2013). An encyclopedia of the organ was published relatively recently by Bush and Kassel (2006). An import moment in the history of organ was provided by with the organ builder Gottfried Silberman (1683–1753). He built instruments played by J S Bach. These organs are characterised by a beautiful unique tone and the best acoustical effect, which has been never surpassed. In the nineteenth century organs were enlarged and improved from a technical point of view. In France, Aristide Cavaillé–Coll developed the symphonic organs, pioneered numerous innovations such as for example the electrically powered pneumatic tracker action. His new instruments, able to reproduce the sound of an orchestra, inspired French composers for the creation of organ symphonies. The twenties century has seen the destruction of many instruments during the First and the Second World War. More than this, numerous classical and romantic instruments were “modernised”, losing their characteristic original sound. During this century there developed post-symphonic organs, neo- classical organs and neo-baroques organs. At the end of the twenty century and at the beginning of the twenty first century organs were equipped with sophisticated electronics, allowing the development of new sonorities. In what follows we will analyse the main structural elements of a pipe organ as used presently for classical music: the casework, the wind system, the transmission, and the pipework.

2.4.3.1

Structural Elements of the Pipe Organ

The Casework We start with an example illustrating a beautiful classical French casework for the organ of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (Fig. 2.42). Historical moments during the life of this organ ranging from the classical period to the contemporaneous period were marked by the following organ builders: Thierry 1733, F.H. Clicquot 1788, Cavaillée-Coll 1867, Hermann 1959, Boisseau 1960 and Boisseau-EmeriauGiroud-Synaptel 1992, Cattiaux–Quoirin 2012. Presently this organ has five manuals and pedal, 110 stops, 111 ranks. 7354 pipes, electric, electronic action and

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Fig. 2.42 The Grand organ of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Legend a general view (Photo Frederic Deschamps 2006, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/GrandesOrgues%2C_Notre-Dame_de_Paris.jpg. Accessed 13 December 2017). b New console, with five manuals (keyboards) of the organ of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris made by Pascal Quoirin in 2014 (https://www.atelierquoirin.com/images/photos_orgues/ParisND_Console6.jpg. Accessed 13 December 2017). Note this organ is classified as “Historical monument” in the data base Palissy, for French furniture patrimony under the reference PM 7500042222

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interface Elec–Cuneo–Italy (http://www.musiqueorguequebec.ca/orgues/france/ ndamep.html). The existing casework for the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was installed by FH Clicquot in 1788 and was successively enlarged, as required the modernisation of the instrument. The organ was equipped with a new updated console in 2014 (Fig. 2.42b). Commonly, the casework of large organs in cathedrals, churches or concert halls is designed by an architect, and is influenced by the aesthetical taste of the corresponding construction era. Its manufacture as a very big object of furniture required great skill and craftmanship. Several types of pipes are displayed inside the casework. Organ casework evolution has been described in various books of art history and in references related to the organ building. For example, these include the reference book on joinery, “L’Art du Menuisier”, published in (1769) by the French Royal Academy of Science, and written by André–Jacob Roubo, the famous French cabinet maker (http://roubo.free.fr). This book is a complement of the book written by Dom Bedos—”L’Art du Facteur d’orgues”. Several other modern publications refer to the description of the function and construction of organ cases (Bicknell 1999; Zanten 1999; Dufourcq 1971; Roffidal–Mote 2000; Klais 1990; Blaton 1965; Servieres 1928). In the next section are given several examples of casework for historical organs. The casework of an organ is one of the most impressive visible part of an organ, and is made in different wood species such as oak, cherry, mahogany, yellow poplar, etc. In Europe, mostly oak is used, but also sweet chestnut and elm. In North America cherry and yellow poplar are used for contemporaneous instruments. The casework is an integral part of the supporting mechanical structure of the organ. In designing casework for a new organ in an old building, architects are faced with many challenges. Two very ones are to fit the pipework into the available space without compromising the existing historic structure and to display the contemporary insertion, without destroying the harmony of the ensemble. The console of an organ should be designed in an appropriate style. Distinctive decorative elements of the console are the stop knobs (Fig. 2.43). For these elements, over the centuries, sumptuous materials such as ivory were used. Often, during the Baroque era the stop knobs were decorated with sculptured heads of fantastic creatures. The Romantic era saw the introduction of stop knobs decorated with porcelain. Some of the contemporaneous organs are equipped with two consoles. The first one acts on a mechanical action while the second one uses an electrical action. The mechanical action is built inside the organ case and cannot be moved, while the console with an electrical action is connected to the pipes by cables (fiber-optic, etc.) and can be removed. This is one is the preferred solution for the organists playing very large instruments. Coming back to our considerations about the casework it should be mentioned that the pipes are arranged in various ways, depending on their historical era. The most used arrangement is that suggested by the “Werkprinzip “or—the principle of the relationship among the divisions of the organ- as described in Fig. 2.44. The

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Fig. 2.43 Stop knobs in ivory of the Baroque organ in Weingarten, in Germany (http://enacademic.com/pictures/enwiki/87/Weingarten_Basilika_Gabler-Orgel_Register_rechts. jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017)

largest pipes are arranged to the left and to the right of the organist. In the middle on the bottom is the Positive or Choir, connected to the first manual. At the top there is the Great organ connected to the second manual. In the Swell, connected to the

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Fig. 2.44 Werkprinzip. Legend a Arrangement of pipes following the Werkprinzip—the principle of the relationship among the divisions—as applied to the organ of Erfurt Dom St Marien, Germany (3 manuals, 142 ranks, 92 register), such as the Great organ—2nd manual, Swell—3rd manual. Positive-1st manual and Pedal (https://www.die-orgelseite.de/orgel_erfurt_dom_e.jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017). b How a pipe organ sounds (key C is pressed, one stop is selected —Principal 8′, one pipe sounds) (https://www.die-orgelseite.de/orgel_gesamtmatrix1_e.gif 14 December 2017)

third manual, the pipes are sitting in a box in which slats can modify the loudness of the sounds of pipes.

2.4.3.2

The Wind System and the Action

The action is shown in Fig. 2.45. Figure 2.45 a—shows a simplified cross section of one manual organ with a mechanical action. Mechanical action and wind trajectory as described by Dom Bedos in Fig. 2.45b. Figure 2.46 shows the structural parts of the wind chest and wind system. The wind system is designed for the production, storage, management and distribution of the compressed air, generated by an electrical blower Air access to the bellows (reservoirs) is controlled by valves. Bellows of different types and sizes are used, depending on the organ type. Pliable air-tight material like leather with a life span up to 120 years is used as hinges, gussets or membranes. This system should be well protected against noise production. The typical air pressure of about 500–1000 Pascals (5–10 cm measured on a water gauge) excites the vibrations of the pipes and is supplied by a large bellows

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JFig. 2.45 Mechanical action. Legend a Simplified cross section of a one manual organ with

mechanical action (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Querschnittorgel. svg/601px-Querschnittorgel.svg.png. (The original uploading user was JH Kantor in Wikipedia in German. Accessed 13 December 2017.) Legend manual and pedal (yellow), action (red), wind (green), sliding in the wind (orange), pipework (blue), wind mechanism (olive). Not shown are the bellows and the register control. b Mechanical action and wind trajectory as described by Dom Bedos–Planche 52 (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/L%27art_du_facteur_d %27orgues_11.jpg

and finally reaches the tapped foot of the pipe. The air entering the pipe flows upward and forms a jet as it emerges from the flue slit. The jet flows across the mouth and strikes the upper lip. Then the jet interacts with the upper lip and with the column of air in the resonator to maintain the steady oscillation that generates the “speech”. The air is distributed to the pipes by the wind chest. Air enters the pipes only when the organist plays one or several notes, and when the valves called pallets are opened. The pipes are arranged in a matrix which allows, for a selected stop to sound only one note corresponding to one pipe. The correct release of air at a certain pressure into the pipe when the key is depressed by the organist, is one of the most complex problems in organ building. Air travel to the pipe is controlled by

Fig. 2.46 Structural parts of the wind chest and wind system. Legend a Structural parts of the wind chest. http://whatsnew.history.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Keys-Hammers-and-Pipes2014-12-a-2.jpg. b The wind system and the wind chest and the pipes (Rucz 2015)

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Fig. 2.46 (continued)

slider soundboards, which distribute ait to the appropriate pipes, according to what notes were played and to what previously selected stops were on. The main function of the slider soundboards is to reduce the number of moving parts down to one set per note per division. For example, a division with eight stops will require 56

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moving parts for a compass of 56 notes, for the key action and six for the stop action with a slider soundboard. To assist these complex movements, in contemporaneous built organs, proportional electric servos were included to solve the problems related to the air release time. With these devices magnets open and close the pallet and accurately follow in the time domain, the movement of the key. In this way the problem of action, which can be mechanical was highly improved. Presently, no more limitations were induced by the size of the organ. Therefor the ideal of the musical design of an organ, requiring mechanical actions could be solved.

2.4.3.3

Pipework

Organ pipework is composed of two types of pipes, the flue pipes and the reed pipes, (Fig. 2.47a) depending on excitation mechanism These pipes are produced in a big variety of sizes and shapes (Fig. 2.47b) and can be made in metal or in wood, and may be open, stopped, or partially stopped. Wooden pipes are of rectangular or square section. Metallic pipes are cylindrical but may have taper to narrower open ends. It can be mentioned also that the pipes are resonators of cylindrical, conical, or of parallelepipedal shape, having a circular, rectangular or square section. The pipes can be open, closed or stopped. Sound radiation of organ pipes is a very interesting and extremely complex problem and was studied by Cremer (1965), Elder (1973), Fletcher (1976), Fletcher and Thwaites (1982), Lottermoser (1983), Hirschberg (1994), Miklos and Angster (2000), Fletcher and Rossing (2010), Chaigne and Kergomard (2016) and many others. Within the scope of this book this problem is only very succinctly mentioned. The main structural parts of a pipe are the foot and the body or the resonator. The foot is the bottom part of the pipe, has a bore or a hole through which the wind (air under pressure) enters the pipe. The length of the pipe foot does not modify the pitch. The length and the volume of the resonator and the voicing determine the fundamental and the timbre of a pipe. The mouth of the pipe is the opening cut at the joint between the body and the foot, and has two lips, an upper and lower one. Inside the pipe, at this joint, the languid (a sheet of metal or wood) is attached. The languid separates the resonator and the foot, with a windway, a small groove parallel to the mouth. This separation creates a cavity inside the foot of the pipe, which allows air to flow from the foot into resonator. Only a thin jet of wind is directed towards the mouth. The air jet propagates in the windway, starts to oscillate around the upper lip, and provides excitation of the air column resonating inside the pipe body. Therefore, the organ pipe sound generation process is a very complex physical phenomenon. Sound radiation from a stopped flue pipe is only from its mouth. An open pipe has two coherent sources of radiation, at the mouth and at the open end, which are in phase for odd harmonics and out of phase for even harmonics. The organ reed pipes are tuned by moving the tuning wire up and down. The flue pipes are tuned by changing the effective length. In a closed pipe, the tuning is made by moving the

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(a) Flue pipe

Reed pipe

(b)

Fig. 2.47 Various types of pipe. Legend a Structural elements of a flue pipes and of a reed pipes (Rucz 2015). b Variety of flue and reed pipes (http://www.die-orgelseite.de/pfeifenarten_e.htm. Accessed 14 December2017). c Typical stationary spectrum of a flue organ pipe at the open end (a) and at the mouth (b) (Angster et al. 2017, Fig. 4, p. 12) (https://www.researchgate.net/ profile/Peter_Rucz/publication/315100298/figure/Fig.1/AS:472450841485313@1489652467004/ Typical-stationary-spectrum-of-a-flue-organ-pipe-at-the-open-end-a-and-at-the-mouth.ppm)

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Fig. 2.47 (continued)

stopper up and down and is relatively simple. Some open pipes have a tuning sleeve that slides up and down or have an adjustable slot near the open end. Rules for scaling of organ pipes described and practiced in the nineteenth century are still valid and are well known by the organ builders. For a required tone, these empirical rules recommend the geometric parameters of the pipes. In some cases, for aesthetic and practical reasons, the modification of the geometric parameters of pipes is unavoidable. To solve these problems, and to “correctly” tune the pipes, the organ builder relies on his empirical experience. Recently, as suggested by Rucz (2015) numerical techniques can be implemented to speed up the scaling and tuning operations for the numerous organ pipes. The pipes are disposed on the windchest according to their note and timbre. A rank is composed of a set of pipes producing the same timbre for each note. Table 2.7 gives the pitch and the harmonic number of pipe ranks. The length of the pipes is always expressed in feet and is between 64 ft (19.5 m) and 1/8 foot (3.8 cm). Most frequently the maximum length is limited to 32 ft (9.75 m). Each key control a note, that may be sounded by different ranks, alone or in combination. The ranks are activated by the drawstops. In order to produce a specific sound, a particular combination of stops is called registration and is determined by composer’s indications or is selected by the organist for a particular

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Table 2.7 Pitch and harmonics of a pipe rank with pipe lengths ranging between 32 ft and 1 foot Equivalent length

Units

Organ pipes

Feet m –

32 9.75

16 4.87

8 2.43 1

4 1.21 2

22/3 0.81 3

2 0.61 4

Harmonic number C1 C2 C3 G3 C4 Lowest note – C0 Lowest pitch Hz 16 33 65 131 196 261 Note In a large-scale pipe, only the lowest harmonics are sounded

13/5 0.49 5

11/3 0.41 6

11/7 0.35 7

1 0.30 8

E4 350

G4 392

Bb4 466

C5 523

musical piece and organ. Since the seventeenth century the art of registration was developed by famous organists and characterized each national style of organ playing (Guillou 2010). The main characteristics of the sound of a rank depend on the scaling. Very small variations of the dimensions of the pipe, diameter, wall thickness, cut-up height, flue width or material used can produced modifications of the sound quality. These particularities have been always mentioned by the organ builders. However, since now no theoretical explanation was really given to argue in favour of this psycho- acoustic effect (Fletcher and Rossing 2010; Angster and Miklos 1998; Angster et al. 2011). To fix the ideas, we can note again that scaling, referring to the geometric parameters of pipes, and voicing, referring to tuning and adjusting the structural parts of the pipes to produce the required tone, are operations which determine sound quality of organ pipe ranks. Sound quality of a pipe organ can be described by the transfer function of the pipes. The transfer function in the frequency domain shows how the pipe, as a resonator, will respond to excitation with different frequencies. The geometry of the resonator determines the frequencies at which the air column encapsulated inside the pipe resonates (giving the eigenfrequencies). A typical transfer function of an organ pipe is given in Fig. 2.47 c. Some measurable parameters can be deduced from a steady sound spectrum of an organ pipe resonator such as: – the fundamental frequency or the first resonance; – the eigenfrequencies which are the frequencies of different harmonics of the fundamental frequency; – the Q factor of eigen resonances; – the cut-off frequency—induced by a combined excitation with longitudinal and transverse modes. Another interesting aspect of pipe sound generation is related to the transient attack. It is worth mentioning that, as described in the previous figure, the form of the envelope of the harmonic partials depends on the total losses in the pipe (air volume losses, surface losses at the pipe wall due to viscosity and heat conduction, radiation

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losses at the openings, energy loss due to the coupling of the sound to the wall vibrations, etc.). Among these loses, surface and radiation losses are the largest. With frequency increasing, the surface loses decrease, but the radiation loses increase. In narrow pipes at a specific frequency a minimum loss occurs. This phenomenon is observed when the largest amplitude occurs at a higher partial and not at the fundamental. From the previous figure (Fig. 2.47c), we have seen also that the spectra of the sound radiated at the mouth and at the open end of the pipe are different. This can be explained by the differences observed in standing waves which are asymmetrically located (Angster and Miklos 1998). Another interesting aspect to mention is related to the irregulates in the high frequency part of the spectrum, which can be induced by the following factors: – the excitation of transverse resonances (cross-sectional eigen modes) of the pipe; – wall vibrations. Backus and Hundley (1965) and Angster et al. (1998) demonstrated that wall vibrations cannot radiate sound directly. However, for rectangular pipes, a linear coupling exists between the air column and the pipe wall (Angster et al. 2011). This coupling can be also observed for cylindrical pipes. if the cross section is not perfectly circular but is slightly elliptical, or, if the wall is very thin (Kob 2000). In these cases, wall vibrations can influence the sound radiated at the openings, especially during the transient attack (Angster et al 1998; Kob 2000). – The presence of a sharp vibration mode, which is close to an eigenmode of the pipe’s sound. In this case, both modes will be coupled, and a slight detuning of the corresponding sound component is produced. (However, such a coincidence is very rare.) The reader interested in more detailed aspects of the vibrations of organ pipes can get interesting detail in the following references: Angster 1990, Angster et al. (1991, 2016), Esteve Fontestad (2008), Fletcher and Rossing (2010), Rucz (2015), Chaigne and Kergomard (2016). The scale of a rank of pipes refers to the ratio of the diameter to the length of the pipe of the lowest pitch. For flue pipes, the mouth width, lip cut-up and width of the opening follow the same scale as the pipe diameter. Table 2.8 gives data of the mouth width and lip cut and width of historical pipes. As mentioned by Fletcher and Rossing (2010), the effective length of an open pipe L′ is calculated as the sum of the physical length Lo, plus the end correction De at the open end and the correction Dm at the mouth L0 ¼ Lo þ De þ Dm De = 0.6 a, where a is the radius of the pipe; p Dm ¼ 2:3 a2 = lb where b is the mouth width, l is the mouth height. The effective length of a stopped pipe L″ is only one quarter of a wavelength and there is no correction at the stopped end, therefore

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Table 2.8 Geometric parameters of some organ pipes (data from Lottermoser 1983) Pipes type

Diameter (mm)

Length (mm)

Mouth width (mm)

Lip cut (mm)

Reference historical model or pipe type

1

Principal

2

Cylindrical pipes

3

Conical pipes

55 54 50 88 42.5 35/80 47/70.5

575 588 585 439 606 529 528

42.5 40 40 43.5 34 39.5 53.5

10 11.5 9 9.7 7.3 9.3 11

Normal size A Sielbermann Dom Bedos Nachthorn Geigenprinzipal Blockflöte Waldflöte

L00 ¼ Lo þ Dm : At this point more comments are needed. We have seen that the air column in a pipe has several eigenmodes with characteristic resonance frequencies (eigenfrequencies). As noted by Fletcher and Rossing (2010) their frequencies are not perfectly harmonically related, because of the end corrections, which decreases with frequency. We know also that the end correction is proportional to the pipe diameter, and therefore the stretching of the eigenfrequencies is larger for wide pipes than for narrow ones. Moreover, the end correction for a small opening, like the mouth, is larger than that for the big open end of a pipe. Therefore, the eigenfrequency stretching of an organ pipe is larger than that of a tube with the same length and diameter. Because of the different end corrections at the openings, the standing wave is located asymmetrically inside the organ pipe (Angster and Miklos 1998). Therefore, the sound spectra at the mouth and at the open end are different as shown in Fig. 2.47c. Referring to the same figure, note a series of smaller and wider peaks that are not harmonically related but are slightly stretched in frequency. The stretching of eigenfrequencies is much more pronounced in open organ pipes than in stopped pipes. Finally, it is worth mentioning that correction values are only indicative. In practice, some adjustments are operated on the open end of the pipe (that may have a tuning slot, or on the tongue, on the sleeve) and on the mouth (that may have ears, etc.). Therefor organ builders relied mostly on their practical experience of voicing. Flue pipe tone quality depends on the dimensions of the resonator (pipe body) and on the adjustments made to the pipe mouth during voicing, when the whole rank is brought into balance. As far as its fundamental is concerned, a flue pipe behaves as an active element for sound generation. For the upper harmonics, the flue pipe is a passive resonant filter, and the pipe geometry and sizes influence the passive resonance behaviour. For reed pipes the situation is different. The reed can couple to any of the pipe resonances. Miklos et al. (2006) demonstrated the effect of reed vibrating length on sound generation and the existing interaction between the reed and the resonator.

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2.4.3.4

85

The Transmission

The transmission is the mechanism which links the pipes and the keys (Fig. 2.48) which can be mechanical, electrical, electro-pneumatical, electronical, or combinations of these (Fig. 2.49) and refers to the way in which the valves of the organ windchest can be opened to allow air into the pipes. The oldest type is mechanical, and id called—the tracker. In this arrangement the keys are connected directly to the windchest with a complex system of levers. The electrical system uses electromagnets to open the valves. The electro-pneumatic system has electromagnets which exhaust the air from the bellows, which open the valves into the pipes. MIDI or Musical Instrument Digital Interface—is a system developed by electronics industry to enable the inter-connection of various products. This system was used in some electrical actions to connect the console to the pipes. The major advantage of the system, expressed very simply, is that only two wires are needed to connect the keyboard to the pipes instead of hundreds in electrical actions. However, mechanical action is highly regarded by numerous organists. Therefore, it is interesting to analyse in more details the mechanical action of organs. Mechanical action is the oldest system and still is very reliable, because the organist controls the speed at which the pallet opens and closes. The trackers transfer the key movement vertically and the rollers translate the movement horizontally. The second tracker acts on the pallet which opens access for air from the wind chest to the pipe. In large organs trackers can be very long, up to several meters in lengths. Traditionally trackers are made in wood (Fig. 2.50). The trackers are attached to the wire hanging through the bottom board of the windchest (Fig. 2.51). It is generally accepted that mechanical action links the organist to the instrument in the most direct and intimate manner and the mechanical action (provided it is well designed, made from excellent quality materials and set up in accordance with the principles of art organ building) is the most reliable and long lasting of all. Problems can arise only when timber swells or shrinks and metal rusts because of bad environmental air conditions. Important improvements in the quality of mechanical action were achieved with new materials used in space technology, such as the carbon fiber wires, which are light, have high flexural stiffness, are unbreakable and insensitive to variations in environment conditions. Figure 2.52 shows a rollerboard equipped with carbon fiber wire and wooden elements. Structural components of the pneumatic action are shown in Fig. 2.53. This action reduced the mechanical stress needed to activate the key and to play the notes and opened new possibilities in organ design. The pneumatic system is supplied via small-bore lead tubing. With ageing these tubes can kink or deform in cross section (becoming oval) and therefore producing air leaking. Combined with leather ageing, air leaking from the system became catastrophic. Figure 2.54 shows components of the electrical action, which needs only light cables and could have thousands of sliding switches, which corrode, get dirty and blocked from excessive arcing. Often the electrical and pneumatic actions were combined.

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Fig. 2.48 Schematics of the mechanism that links the keys and the pipes (Pyckett 2017, Fig. 1) (http://www.pykett.org.uk/the_physics_of_organ_actions.htm. Accessed 13 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.49 Types of actions. Legend a mechanical—tracker; b electrical; c electro-pneumatic (https://slideplayer.com/4671587/15/images/29/. Accessed 11 April 2018)

Fig. 2.50 Mechanical action with trackers in wood (http://zych.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ traktura_mechaniczna.jpg)

Numerous problems arrived from the use of these actions were solved well by the electronic control of the numerous possible programable combinations required by organ playing (Fig. 2.55).

2.4.3.5

Casework of Organs Since 1400 to Classical Period

Early medieval organs had no case. As noted by Jakob et al. (1991) the earliest illustration of an organ case seems to be in the middle of the 14th century. Remains

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Fig. 2.51 Trackers attach to the wires hanging through the bottom board of the windchest as shown in the cross-section of a mechanical action windchest (Photo Gerard Janot 2006 https:// upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/SommierOrgue.jpg. Accessed 10 December 2017)

of some Positive organs from Sweden exist since 1390. An organ case at Salamanca cathedral was dated from 1380 (Bicknell 1998). The oldest existing organ, in playing condition is the organ built in 1435 at Sion, in Switzerland. The casework was designed to have a functional role, the doors closed over the open face, protecting the instruments from pollution, dust, vermin—mice or rats, etc. (Jakob et al. 1991). Other surviving organs cited are the instruments in the cathedrals of Salamanca and Zaragoza—1443, in Spain. Since the Renaissance, organ building began to separate into national schools. In Italy, organ caseworks are very specific, of splendid architecture. Bologna was the principal centre of Baroque music in Italy and its musical organisation began in 1436, when initiated by Pope Eugenius IV. Two organs were built for the San Petronio Cathedral in Bologna. The first in 1476 by Lorenzo da Prato (Fig. 2.56) and the second in 1596 by Malamini (Fig. 2.57). They are located on opposite sides of the main altar. These organs are in their original playing condition (Mischiati and Tagliavini 2013). The model of the wind chest of the organ built by Lorenzo da Pavia is conserved in Museo Correr in Venice. In Italy, organs were never too large, and rules of classical architecture and design governed organ building from the Renaissance until modern times. The development of very sophisticated large instruments built on several levels occurred in Northern Europe, in Denmark and in the Netherlands, in the Hanseatic

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Fig. 2.52 A rollerboard featuring carbon fiber wire and wooden elements which utilize the clip-on technique (Photo Fratelli Ruffatti, http://ruffatti.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/xP1120871.jpg)

League towns of Lübeck, Hambourg, Bremen, Brunswick, Dantzig (today Gdańsk), Hildesheim, Cologne, Osnabrück, Rostock and in Bohemia. These instruments were constructed under the Werksprinzip scheme with several manuals. Werkprinzik reaches its pinnacle with Arp Schnitger (1648–1719) and the Hamburg school of organ building. Figure 2.58 shows the monumental organ built by Christiaan Műller between 1735 and 1738 for the Grote Kerk Cathedral of St. Bavo in Haarlem, The Netherlands. The organ has 5000 pipes, 64 registers three manuals and a pedal, and the action is mechanical. The casework is very complex being built on several levels and was designed by the architect Hendrik de Werff. It has pipes in the façade which are 32’ in length. The case is in pine wood, painted in deep red and is abundantly gilded with 25 large statues by the sculptor Jan van Logteren from Amsterdam. The pinnacle is decorated with two lions, holding the Haarlem coat of arms. In France classical organ casework had a typical arrangement having five towers with four flats between them, with two large departments, “le Grand orgue” and “le Positif de Dos “(Ruckpositiv). The Positif was always set in front. The other manual divisions and the Pedal organ were subsidiary elements. Figure 2.59 shows the casework organ of the Cathedral of Nancy, originally built by Nicolas Dupont, between 1756 and 1763 having 44 stops. Jean Nicolas Jenneson, the architect, designed this monumental 16 foot casework made in oak, with numerous

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Fig. 2.53 Pneumatic action. Legend a viewed from the keyboard (http://www.exaudite.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/12/Console-with-Pnematic-Action-a.png. Accessed 14 December 2017). b Tubular pneumatic organ built by Wilhelm Schwarz in 1901, in Salem, Germany, with tubular pneumatic actions (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Salemer_M%C3% BCnster_Orgel_innen_Pneumatische_Traktur.jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.54 Electric stop action for a pipe organ (Photo J H Kantor (https://upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/6/63/Innenansichtelektrischeregistertraktur.jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017)

sculptures. This instrument is representative of the French art of organ building. “The case occupies all the organ gallery’s width. A rare elegance as well as a sumptuous balance are achieved through the two central 16-foot turrets that surround the convex central turret, overlooked by carved-wood garlands and a central heraldry” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_organ_of_Nancy_Cathedral). This splendid case is on the Palissy list and was classified as a French “Monument historique” on August 9, 1909. Parts of the elements of the internal structure were placed in the list on September 22, 2003 (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/ palissy_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=PM54001310. Accessed 20 December 2017). In Spain and Portugal, casework was conceived as a single structural unit without pedal towers and no Ruckpositiv at all, or at most only occasionally. The decoration of the casework is in the style of the cathedrals or churches where the organs stood as for example in Salamanca (Fig. 2.60). In some cathedrals two organs were built, as for example in Granada (Fig. 2.61). The organs stand in pairs on either side of the choir and are usually flat in overall plan. A particular structural characteristic of organs built in Spain and Portugal is given by the provision of batteries of horizontal reed pipes (trompeteria) introduced at the end of the seventeenth century. These elements provided a spectacular visual effect. The stops

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Fig. 2.55 Electronic control of 4000 programable combinations with sequencer of the Great organ section of the organ of Paderborn Cathedral, in Germany. The cathedral has three separate organs. The instruments can be played separately from their own consoles or, together from a central console (https://www.die-orgelseite.de/orgel_setzer2.jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017). a View of the electronic connections. b Electronic board (https://www.die-orgelseite.de/orgel_ setzer1.jpg. Accessed 14 December 2017)

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were usually divided to operate in the treble or bass only. Manual departments are divided among numerous soundboards linked by tubes. In England the most interesting caseworks for organs were built during the Victorian era (Fig. 2.62). The cases are of high quality cabinet making and use of mahogany. Figure 2.63 shows the casework of the organ in Portsmouth Cathedral. Previously the pipes of this organ were in the John Nicholson organ built for Manchester Cathedral in 1861.

2.4.3.6

Organ Building Innovations of the Twenty First Century

Organ building innovations of the twenty first century, were discussed by Harlow (2011, 2017), making reference to the following remarkable instruments, namely: – The organ built by Adriaan Fookner, in Amsterdam using 31 tones per octave, built in (1955). – The organ in St Peter’s in Cologne church, designed by Peter Bares in 2004 and built by organ builder Willi Peter in Cologne (www.willipeter.de). – The “Modulorgue” by D Birouste and M Fourcade for the church in the village Plaisance- Gers, France, built in 1988. – The prototypes organs “mit den Wind spielen” by organ builder Peter Kraul and the scientists from the University in Bern- Switzerland, built between 1999 and 2006. To these instruments we must add the organ having a “variable geometry” built for the Auditorium in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain. These organs having specific tonal, mechanical and electronic innovations gave a new impetus to the musical and compositional aesthetics of the twenty first century. These innovations when brought together created a modern “hyper organ” with extended capabilities reuniting the electronic and acoustic worlds for electro-acoustic composition.

Fookner Organ Dutch scientist A Fookner explored the capabilities of 31 tone per octave, on the basis of just intonation and the mathematical foundations of thirty—one- equal temperaments suggested by Huygens in 1691. On Fookner’s organ it is possible to play works of the late Renaissance and Early Baroque periods with the common practice of sub-semitone extensions to the traditional keyboard as well as contemporaneous music. Indeed, the most original part of the instrument is the console with two manuals (Fig. 2.64). For the first console, the keys on each manual lie in a two-dimensional array, with a grid of 28
6 keys interlaced with a grid of 29
5, in a very specific roofing tile pattern, the black keys are situated between each white key and the upper key is for the flat and the lower for the sharp note. A similar

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JFig. 2.56 Great organ built in 1476 by Lorenzo da Prato, in San Petronio Cathedral, Bologna

(http://www.accademia-organo.it/images/festival2014/san-petronio-bologna.jpg. Accessed 19 December 2017). Legend a view of the casework; b Detail of the keyboard of the organ built by Lorenzo da Prato in the Cathedral San Petronio, Bologna. https://i0.wp.com/www.projektstudio31. com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/08/tast1.jpg?w=500&ssl=1

Fig. 2.57 Side Organ built in 1596 by Malamini for San Petronio Cathedral in Bologna (https://smedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/04/49/35/044935cb1764903cddd7f7349796e159.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

pattern is used for the pedal board spanning C to fo. The second, traditional console for twelfth -tone keyboard has twelve keys per octave. Both consoles could be connected by a cord to the electric action chests, and each operates five pipe rankstwo on each manual and one on the pedal. Several composers were inspired by this instrument, writing microtonal compositions for organ solo. These compositions have been played in concerts during the last fifty years (www.huygens-fokker.org/ activities/fokkerorganconcerts.html). Presently the Fokker’s organ and the Huygens-Fokker Foundation for Microtonal music are located in the new Muziekgebouw AA’T IJ. The consoles and the electric action were rebuilt with up to date digital techniques—MIDI and computer which can sync with the organ through this interface. The Fokker organ in Amsterdam is unique in the world, and no similar instrument has been constructed since 1955. This organ has the most innovative design ever proposed for microtonal

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Fig. 2.58 Casework of the Organ in St. Bavo cathedral Haarlem, The Netherlands (https://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Sint_bavo_haarlem_orgel_front_1010116.jpg/ 570px-Sint_bavo_haarlem_orgel_front_1010116.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.59 Organ in the Cathedral in Nancy, France. Legend a Casework (Photo 23 June 2013, La Cathedrale de Nancy, France https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Buffet_ grand-orgue.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017). b The console with four manuals photo 10 July 2013, Cathedrale de Nancy (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/ Console_Nancy.jpeg/528px-Console_Nancy.jpeg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.60 Organ in Salamanca cathedral, view of the casework (Photo Jacques http://cdn.ipernity. com/115/76/22/8617622.9a530e29.640.jpg? Accessed 20 December 2017)

music, and for the first time allows organists to play microtonal compositions (Philippi 2002).

The Organ in St Peter’s Church in Cologne, Designed by Peter Bares This organ was built with existing elements of the Sankt Peter church organ, with elements from the house organ and with the trumpets from the organ of Sankt Peter Church in Sinzig. The organ builder was Willi Peter Orgelbau of Cologne, Germany (Fig. 2.65). The organ was inaugurated in 2004 and is continuously used for liturgical purposes and concerts. Numerous composers were inspired by this organ, by its very colourful sound. The innovative concept of P. Bares (1936–2014) is served by a vast array of distinctive reed stops, by mutations and mixtures in original combinations and by the extensive percussion batteries (Susteck 2011). This high-quality organ is very much appreciated for its very unusual timbres, especially for improvisations and for compositions written expressly for it. The organ can be played by or in collaboration with a computer, in a similar way to the Fokker organ, renovated and equipped with the MIDI interface. This instrument is a technical masterpiece (Gassmann et al. 2004; Gassmann 2004; Hage and van der Poel 2010).

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Fig. 2.61 Two organs in opposite positions in Granada Cathedral on both sides of the nave (https://travelpast50.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/organ-granada-cathedral-spain.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

The “Modulorgue” by D Birouste and M Fourcade for the Church in Plaisance–Gers, France The “Modulorgue” by D Birouste and M Fourcade was built in 1988 for the church in Plaisance–Gers, France having 3135 pipes, four manuals with 61 notes, and pedal 32 notes (Fig. 2.66). The builders seek to realise new musical capabilities by applying new innovative technologies. The basic concept was a unit chest coupled with innovative valve technology and very complex electronic control mechanisms. An electronic valve was placed under every pipe to maximise its potential. This was referred as “Individual Pipe Control”, on which was integrated digital valve technology. Francis Bras developed a new type of valve, with a series of steps between the open and closed positions, avoiding the traditional binary operation (http:// www.modulorgue.com/concept.html). The displacement of the key is connected to the valve. A similar concept was developed in Switzerland by D Debrunner, which unhappily was never fully implemented. The Canadian NovelOrg company in Montreal developed a proportional mechanism to electronically transfer and to recreate the mechanical key action (http://www.novelorg.com/). The magnets for proportional electromagnetic switchers operate directly on the tracker mechanism of the organ.

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Fig. 2.62 Organ at Exeter Cathedral (Photo Karl Gruber, May 2013 (https://upload.wikimedia. org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Exeter_Cathedral_9578.jpg/800px-Exeter_Cathedral_9578. jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.63 The Nicholson Organ of Portsmouth Cathedral in Hampshire, England (Photo David Iliff. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Portsmouth_Cathedral_Nicholson_ Organ%2C_Portsmouth%2C_Hampshire%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg. Accessed 17 December 2017)

Among the advantages of this new approach can be cited: increasing the tonal possibilities of the organ and supporting the traditional mechanism, making the manual lighter, adding a remote console to an existing mechanical organ, restoring historical organs and preserving the existing action and tonal quality. The most innovative endeavour of Individual Pipe Control is related to the control of each side of the keyboard. A variable displacement time function operates the mechanical tracker for automatic playback, having a computer-controlled performance. Dials can be used to manipulate the pitch and speech of each rank independently. These technological achievements bring new tonal possibilities to the contemporaneous organ, for promoting spectral aesthetics

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(a)

(b) Console

Pedal

Fig. 2.64 The organ by Adriaan Fokker in Amsterdam for 31 notes per octave. Legend a General view of the casework (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/instrumenten/images/bam1_000.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017). b Console of the organ (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/ instrumenten/images/bam3_000.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017) and pedal of the organ (http://www.huygens-fokker.org/instrumenten/images/bam5_000.jpg. Accessed 20 December 2017)

of composers. By connecting a computer, it is possible to play the instrument directly from the software and also to create for the organist, specialized patches to activate the instrument. Computer assisted performance and an individual pipe control system are ideal for many purposes, and the organ can be played remotely. Such organs are ideal vehicles for electro-acoustic compositions in our century. Prototype organ “mit den Wind spielen” by Peter Kraul and the scientists from the University in Bern—Switzerland Three prototype organs were built by Peter Kraul and the scientists from the University in Bern- Switzerland (Fig. 2.67). These focus on mechanical innovation and a flexible approach to wind control supplying dynamic flexibility to organ timbre. This project is based on the ideas of the Swiss organist Daniel Glaus. The first prototype was a laboratory device with three keys and five stops, and

2.4 Structural Elements of Air Jet Driven Instruments Fig. 2.65 Organ of St Peter church in Cologne designed by P Bares. Legend a general view (Photos Cees van der Poel http://www.hetorgel.nl/ image/koln-stpeter-01.jpg. Accessed 28 December 2017) b The console (http://www. peter-bares.de/assets/images/ Spieltisch-01.jpg. Accessed 28 December 2017

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Fig. 2.66 Modulorgue in the church Immaculate Conception, in the village Plaisance, Gers, France, built by D Birouste, and M Furcade and the altar piece by Daniel Ogier, painter https:// asset-premium.keepeek.com/medias/domain37/media332/49963-gn3e2fukxk-whr.jpg. Accessed 28 December 2017)

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Fig. 2.67 Organ prototype number 3 built by Peter Kraul, now in Berner Muenster-Switzerland (https://www.bernermuenster.ch/wAssets/img/orgeln/weblication/wThumbnails/39404fd3ac7db56 g6e71ec83defb9f55.jpg. Accessed 28 December 2017); http://www.hkb-interpretation.ch/ fileadmin/_processed_/csm_IMG_8368_2d2732297d.jpg

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mechanical innovations—such as the double pallet box. The wind pressure in each pallet box can be set independently. The valves for each key can be activated independently or together. The action and the wind system allowed a large variety of touch and therefore of pipe speech control. The second prototype is much larger, allowing for a wide range of musical expression. The variable pressure mechanism works with electric technology. This prototype of this instrument controls pitch and dynamics comparably to that of the clavichord (Harlow 2011). The third prototype built in the frame of INNOV-ORGAN-UM (sensory dynamic organ), has three manuals, and a pedal, with five ranks of pipes. It was possible to control the dynamic and the pitch of the pipes (http://www.kraul.org/INNOV-ORGAN-UM. html). The third prototype was first installed in the Great Concert Hall of the Bern University of Arts. Later this organ was moved to the Bernese Münster. The greatest challenge was to build a wind system and action that would allow expressive dynamics and pitch flexibility at the organ keyboard. The organ permits real time analogue control of microtonal pitch fluctuations. “While the dual wind system and variable mechanical properties of the key action allow unprecedented control over dynamics and tuning using only the motion of the finger, the widely variable wind pressure also reveals the diverse acoustic properties of the pipes themselves” (Harlow 2011). This was achieved by an extraordinary skill of mechanical engineering and represents a pinnacle of innovation in modern organ building. (The only one exception is the electrical pickups for the wind regulation.) Organ of “Variable Geometry” The first innovative organ of the twenty first century was built by Albert Blancafort, for the Auditorium symphony hall in Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife–Canary Island in Spain (Fig. 2.68). The new concert hall has 1616 seats. The stage is 16.5 m wide and 14 m in depth. The organ was designed as an instrument of “variable geometry” by French composer and organist Jean Guillou and constructed by the Catalan organ builder Albert Blancafort. The basic principles for the construction of this new organ were described by Guillou in his books (Guillou 2010 and Guillou 2012). The organ has eight caseworks, four on each side of the hall, fixed in the lateral walls of the concert hall, which give an extraordinary 3D perception of sound. The organ has one main console with four keyboards and nine supplementary consoles displayed on the stage. Up to ten organists can play the instrument simultaneously, so that the organ became like an orchestra. The conductor sits on the main console. This configuration allows for the interpretation of organ repertoire pieces, improvisations and new compositions. The façade of the organ is an allegory of the Gomes coast in Spain a basalt formation, known as “the organs” and is made of six fields with tubes 16′ long and set at a 30° inclination. Visually, these tubes reflect the perspective of the concert hall. The particular disposition of pipes required a

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Fig. 2.68 Organ of the twenty first century—in Symphony hall of the Auditorium in Tenerife, Canary Islands Spain. Legend a Auditorium built between 1997 and 2003 by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. b view of the stage with eight supplementary consoles https://i.pinimg.com/ 564x/22/06/0c/22060ceca1d5e557cae78607c8e0339a.jpg. c pipes on the lateral walls of the hall https://www.music.ucla.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/audinside.jpg. d the main console of the organ https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRLgPPvahe7pc4_ CWPmviFIFp6wYmgxmJhmi4IBfcvywT3qpfGG. e Jean Gouillou–French composer, organist, and organ designer (www.jean-guillou.org/biography.html). f Albert Blancafort–Spanish organ builder in Montserat near Barcelona (www.orguesblancafort.com)

special alloy able to support the mechanical stresses induced by this geometry. The “battalia “- horizontal Spanish pipe organs like trumpets—are visible only when the organ is in use. This consists of two blocks weighing about 400 kg each.

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The organ built by Albert Blancafort for the Auditorium constructed by the architect Calatrava, inaugurates the era of assisted action (non-mechanical) with very high precision. The organ is equipped with electronic data transmission ELTEC, original BLANCFORT electromagnets with a reaction time of 2 ms (note that the electro-pneumatic system takes 50 ms), that can reproduce the musician’s keystroke, with the utmost exactitude, maintaining troll, repetitions, etc. The organ has a “variable touch” for controlling the attack-decay emission sound from the organ pipe, working like those of the flute player making articulation. The phrasing of this organ is more flexible and expressive than those of existing contemporaneous organs.

2.5 2.5.1

About the Protection of Innovation with Wind Musical Instruments and Organs Background

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1990) defines a patent as “a document granted by an authority to an individual or organisation conferring a right or title esp. the sole right to make or use or sell some invention”. Patents are forms of intellectual property. A patent should include different claims that define the invention such as patentability requirements, novelty, usefulness, non-obviousness, terms of protection, etc. The fascinating history of patents has been described by numerous references from which we cite the followings: Hulme (1896, 1902, 1917), Ramset (1936), Mandich (1960), Taylor and Silberston (1973), Cantwell (1991), Batchelar (2001). In what follows our attention will be focused on the historical context in which the patent system was developed in England and in Europe and of course, mostly on patents related to the manufacturing of musical instruments and their evolution since the 16th century to the modern era.

2.5.2

Patents for Wind Instruments Manufacturing Between 1617 and 1852

Before going to the specific subject of musical instruments it could be interesting to describe the historical context which determined the patent system in Europe. The first patent was granted in 1331, in England in the form of letters patent issued by the Sovereign to inventor John Kempe with the avowed purpose of instructing the English in a new industry. In this sense, King Henry the VIth who was the King of England and the Lord of Ireland from 1399 to 1413, granted a letter patent to the Flemish fellow, John of Utynam, in favour of all foreign weavers, dyers and fullers

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granting a twenty-year monopoly. In this way rights were granted to foreign nationals to practice their trade and to establish new methods for commerce and manufacturing. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) the principles of the modern patent system were first identified in 1561 in England with a licence lasting for ten years to make white soap (Fox 1947). In Florence in 1421 the first patent lasting three years was granted to the architect Brunelleschi for a barge with hoisting gear that carried marble along the river Arno, crossing the city. Patents were granted for 10 years, by the Republic of Venice as early as 1450 for protection of glass making. The Venetians were sailors and emigrated to new territories or countries where they sought similar patent protection, contributing to the diffusion of the patent system to other countries. In France, during his reign of King Henry II (1547–1559), introduced the concept of “description of the invention” in a patent granted in 1555. The French Academy of Sciences examined each proposal for an invention before the patent was granted. Later, by the 16th century, the English Crown and the English patent system recognised intellectual property to stimulate invention, which was the legal foundation upon which the Industrial Revolution flourished in England. During the 18th century in England patent applications were required to supply a complete specification of the principles of operation of the invention. After the French Revolution, in 1791, the modern French patent was created.

2.5.2.1

First Patent for a Musical Instruments Manufacturer

As specified by Hulme (1896) and Batchelar (2001) the first patent for a musical instrument was granted in England to George Langdale for making sackbuts and trumpets in 1583—patent roll ref. c66/1231. This patent can be seen in the Round Room of the Public Records Office in London (Cantwell 1991). The patent in its translation from Elizabethan English was reproduced by Batchelar (2001). The patent was granted for 20 years and for the encouragement of domestic workers, as an extension of the protection accorded to alien immigrants. The patents granted during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, have been divided into five categories: – – – – –

for original discoveries, and the introduction of technical processes from abroad; for granting protection of the law; bestowed power of supervision over an industry or trade; settled trade to one or more persons for the sake of personal gain; allowed a monopoly importation and conduct a newly established trade.

This first patent for musical instruments—sackbuts and trumpets, granted to George Langdale for making sackbuts and trumpets in 1583 fall into the first and the fifth categories, with a geographical limitation placed on the monopoly grant.

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Table 2.9 Number of brass instruments makers in England between 1582 and 1700 (data from Batchelar 2001)

1 2 3 4 5

Periods of evolution considered Period Years

Number of makers of brass instruments Europe

England

London

Pre—1583 1593–1603 1604–1623 1623–1700 Total

7 7 7 + ?? 12 32

2 2 0 5 9

2 2 0 3 7

? 10 20 77 117

It is interesting to mention that this geographical limitation, for all following patents granted during centuries, remained in use until the Act of 1977. This first patent granted in1583 for manufacturing sackbuts and trumpets had an important effect on brass instrument making in London, up to around 1650, by leading to the development of other types of trumpets. For example, the S form trumpet introduced a technological breakthrough by making a bend in the metallic tube. Another example is the trumpet called the “clareta”, which allows the trumpeter to play in more than one key without having to stop playing. This was possible with the introduction of a claret piece between the mouthpiece and the first tube in order to lengthen it. Technological evolution of sackbuts during about two centuries is illustrated in Fig. 2.62 reproducing paintings of Hans Memling in 1460 and of Denis van Alsloot in 1616. Table 2.9 shows the number of brass instrument makers in England compared with those in Europe. Before 1700 in Europe there were 32 makers and in England there were only nine, of which five were in London. More than thirty percent of makers in Europe were based in England. Therefore, it can be inferred that the presence of the patent increased the rate of manufacturing development (Fig. 2.69).

2.5.2.2

Musical Instruments Manufacturing Patents for Protecting Inventions

We have seen that after 1604, in England, the number of wind musical instruments manufacturers doubled, increasing from 10 to 20 in 1623 and then to 77 in 1700, reflecting the prosperity of the manufacturing activity. There arose increasing requirements for novelty and inventiveness. Now, if we take a glance over the patents from about 1600–1852, the period of reform of the patent system, and considering all types of instruments, we can see that the most important rate of development was for harps, harpsichord, pianoforte and pipe organs especially after 1800. There was a relationship between the use of patents and successful commercial exploitation of the invention in favour of

2.5 About the Protection of Innovation with Wind Musical Instruments … Fig. 2.69 Technological evolution of sackbuts between 1460 and 1616. Legend a angels playing musical instruments—painted by Hans Memling in 1490, https:// uploads7.wikiart.org/images/ hans-memling/five-angelsplaying-musical-instrumentsleft-hand-panel-from-atriptych-from-the-church-of1490.jpg!Large.jpg. b Musicians playing wind instruments by Denis van Alsloot, painted in 1640, http://poirierjm.free.fr/Le% 20Mans_16/Le%20Mans% 20images/antoon%20sallaert. jpg

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monopolies granted. The instruments were developed as a direct response to the changes of musical taste in Romanticism. A large increase in sealing of pianofortes stimulated industrial manufacturing, based on strong new technological bases. The production of instruments was organised in specialised factories. Beside the production of pianos, the manufacturing of flutes and other wind instruments was improved through a better understanding of the acoustics of these instruments. Patents were widely used because of the rapid development of a sophisticated technology, by both individual manufacturers and successful firms. Commercial success rewarded the inventor who patented his ideas. The quality of musical instruments in this period rose to an unprecedented level. There is only one notable exception, that of violins and related instruments which never surpassed the maestri of Cremona and other Italian makers. In 1852 the patent system in England was reformed. It introduced a new requirement for complete specification, for more rigorous inspection of proposals, sealing conditions and massive reduction in costs for application, decreasing from 300 to 25 ₤. As noted by Batchelar (2001), under the new reformed system in 1852, the patents for brass instruments increased in number. In the period 1854–1864 there were a total of thirty-nine applications for brass instruments. In the following decades 1865–1875 and 1876–1887 the number drops to about the half. However, in the next years of economic prosperity during the reign of Queen Victoria, up to 1904 the number of patents increased from thirty to forty. Radical changes to the design of existing instruments characterised the new patents for old and new instruments. Accessories for musical instruments were also patented including for example cases for transportation and many other accessories. After the second World War, due to technological development, patents for pick-up devices which provided an electronic signal that can be amplified appeared. The effects of the Patent Cooperation Treaty of 1970 and the adoption of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) system of classification by European Convention in 1973 introduced a new vision related to patent systems, facilitating international searching for novelty, by a common classification system. The reforms of the 1977 Patents Act radically changed the patent registration system. This was followed by the introduction of computer technology in the 1980s. The registered patent numbers for musical instruments increased to over two million in the Great Britain Patent Office in 1998 as noted in the Annual Report and Accounts, as can be seen in http://www.patent.gov.uk.

2.5.3

The European Patent Convention

The European patent convention was signed in 5 October 1973 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, West Germany and UK and was joined by several countries outside the EE in that time. This convention is a multilateral treaty

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instituting the European Patent Organisation. European patents are granted in this frame. Figure 2.70 shows the modern and impressive building of the headquarters in Munich. On the database of the European Patent Organisation there is an enormous number of patents for musical instruments (www.marcaria.com). Breaking the search down to only wind musical instruments, produced hundreds of references as for example in class 15 we have the following: wind instruments, reeds, organs, woodwind instruments, flutes. In class 37 we have: repair of musical instruments, restoration, providing information relating to the repair or maintenance of musical instruments. This European system was conceived with the hope that inventors could use it, with little or no reliance on administration, for the benefit and progress of modern musical instrument technology and manufacturing.

Fig. 2.70 EPO—European Patent Organisation—headquarter building in Munich, Germany (http://advertisementfeature.cnn.com/epo/resources/patents-and-epo/european-patent-office/ [email protected]. Accessed 8 September 2017). Legend a view of the building; b label and the collaborative countries in Europe (b). The label of the European Patent Office (https://www.ipcoster.com/IPGuides/img/europe.jpg. Accessed 8 September 2017)

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Patents for Musical Instruments in USA

We have seen that a patent for a musical instrument design or production is the most potent registered intellectual property right. A patent gives to the inventor twenty years of exclusivity and is an essential tool during the commercialisation process. United States Patent and Trademark Office classify the patents for musical instruments in Class D17. This class provides patents for keyboard instrument, wind instrument, string instrument, printing equipment, percussion instrument, and mechanical instruments. In subclass 10, is explained that a wind instrument is design “to produce sound by the passage of an air current, especially the player’s breath”. In subclass 5 is explained that “Organ or cabinet therefor is for musical instrument or furniture enclosure that includes pipes that sound notes when air is forced through them”. The Journal of Acoustical Society of America reviews patents in each issue, with the purpose to provide enough information for the reader to decide whether to seek more details from reading the full version of the patent. Hundreds of US patents on musical instruments are available via the Internet at http://www.uspto.gov. It is worth mentioning that recent years have seen an increased use of patent metrics to evaluate innovation and research performance and to “track” technological knowledge and its diffusion in the economy.

2.5.5

Patents for Musical Instruments in Japan

In Japan the mass production of musical instruments is flourishing. The first trumpet was produced in 1966 and the saxophone was launched in 1970. The production of bassoon was launched in 1987. In 2005 was produced the 10 millionth wind instrument (https://au.yamaha.com/en/products/contents/winds/50th/ index.html). Therefore, there is a real need of patents for musical instruments. For example, in 2017, the number of patents on musical instruments owned by Yamaha in US was 2500, in Japan 5000, in China 800 and in other countries 1800 (https://www. yamaha.com/en/ir/publications/pdf/an-2017e-006.pdf).

2.6

Summary

Wind musical instruments, in Hornbostel–Sachs (1914) system of classification of musical instruments, belong to the class aerophones instruments which produce sound by vibrating an air column. Taking into consideration the physical phenomena producing sound, wind musical instruments of the symphony orchestra can be played with a vibrating reed, blowing air across an open hole or against a wedge

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or played by buzzing the lips inside a metal mouthpiece attached to the input end of the instrument. In symphony orchestra we have another classification, namely woodwind instruments and brass instruments. In this book we accepted the classification criterion based on physical phenomena producing sound. In this chapter we discuss the structural elements of lip driven instruments—trombone, trumpet, horn, tuba, of reed driven instruments—clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon and of air jet driven instruments—flute, recorder, pipe organ. Reed driven instruments evolved over the centuries and have a very typical musical character. They have a common characteristic, the finger holes to change the pitch of the notes. The material used for their construction was mainly timber. An exception should be noted, the saxophone, built in brass and invented by Adolph Sax in nineteenth century. Lip driven instruments are made of brass. The flute is played with an air jet blows by the player. The modern concert flute was designed by Theobald Boehm (Böhm) following thoroughly acoustical studies in the middle of the 19th century. The concert flute can be made of silver, gold or platinum. The pipes of the organ are also played with an air jet produced by a ventilator. Organ pipes are made of wood and of a tin-lead metallic alloy. The geometry of brass instruments and especially of the trombone or trumpet is rather simple and their evolution was not spectacular. However, the evolution of woodwind instruments is the most interesting and the changes of structural elements are very large. Essentially all woodwind instruments have a pitch range of about three octaves. The finger holes cover a range of one octave, so they allow playing of two octaves based on resonances 1 and 2. The third octave has more complicated fingering and uses resonances 3 and 4. Early instruments of the flute and oboe families just had 6 or 7 finger holes, and then gradually several normally —closed keys were added to make chromatic playing simpler. Then came the revolution of the design of flute by Boehm. It gave a very well-organized key system and this system was also used on the saxophone. Other woodwinds did not have their fingering systems changed—the bassoon, for example, still has 8 keys for the left thumb. It can be mentioned that the evolution of wind musical instruments was determined by several factors among them the evolution of musical style, or by other factors such as economic, social, political and technological.” Instruments that flourish over long period are either simple or readily adaptable to unpredictably varying conditions: successful accommodation turn fosters new idioms” (Liblin 2000). It is also interesting to note that some period instruments like for example the recorder became an admired instrument in the twenty first century. The reason is that this instrument was championed by charismatic performers. The pipe organ is the most complex musical instrument and is the only one in continuous evolution, since antiquity. The main structural elements of a pipe organ are: the casework, the wind system, the transmission, and the pipework. The casework of an organ is one of the most impressive visible part of an organ, and is made in different wood species such as oak, cherry, mahogany, yellow poplar, etc. The casework is an integral part of the supporting mechanical structure of the organ. Some of the contemporaneous organs are equipped with two consoles. The first one

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acts on a mechanical action while the second one uses an electrical action. The wind system is designed for the production, storage, management and distribution of the compressed air, generated by an electrical blower. Air access to the bellows (reservoirs) is controlled by valves. Bellows of different types and sizes are used, depending on the organ type. The typical air pressure of about 500–1000 Pascals (5–10 cm measured on a water gauge). Organ pipework is composed of two types of pipes, the flue pipes and the reed pipes, depending on excitation mechanism. These pipes are produced in a big variety of sizes and shapes and can be made in metal or in wood, and may be open, stopped, or partially stopped. Wooden pipes are of rectangular or square section. Metallic pipes are cylindrical but may have taper to narrower open ends. The transmission is the mechanism which links the pipes and the keys which can be mechanical, electrical, electro-pneumatical, electronical, or combinations of these and refers to the way in which the valves of the organ windchest can be opened to allow air into the pipes. Mechanical action is the oldest system and still is very reliable, because the organist controls the speed at which the pallet opens and closes. Mechanical action is the most reliable and long lasting of all. Problems can arise only when timber swells or shrinks and metal rusts because of bad environmental air conditions. Important improvements in the quality of mechanical action were achieved with new materials used in space technology. Often the electrical and pneumatic actions were combined. Numerous problems arrived from the use of these actions were solved well by the electronic control of the numerous possible programable combinations required by organ playing. The new organs of the twenty first century, having specific tonal, mechanical and electronic innovations, gave a new impetus to the musical and compositional aesthetics of the twenty first century. These innovations when brought together created a modern “hyper organ” with extended capabilities reuniting the electronic and acoustic worlds. In Europe, the patents related to the manufacturing of musical instruments and their evolution exist since the sixteenth century and continuously increased in number to the modern era. The first patent for a musical instrument was granted in England to George Langdale for making sackbuts and trumpets in 1583—patent roll ref. c66/1231. This patent was granted for 20 years and for the encouragement of domestic workers, as an extension of the protection accorded to alien immigrants. This patent increased the rate of manufacturing development of brass instruments. During centuries, there was a relationship between the use of patents and successful commercial exploitation of the invention in favour of monopolies granted. The musical instruments were developed as a direct response to the changes of musical taste in Romanticism. Patents were widely used because of the rapid development of a sophisticated technology, by both individual manufacturers and successful firms. The effects of the Patent Cooperation Treaty of 1970 and the adoption of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) system of classification by European Convention in 1973 introduced a new vision related to patent systems, facilitating international searching for novelty, by a common classification system. Recent years have seen an increased use of patent metrics to

2.6 Summary

117

evaluate innovation and research performance and to “track” technological knowledge and its diffusion in the economy.

Appendix 1 Standard musical frequencies in Hz—(data from Hartmann 2013) Co

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

16.3 Do 18.35 Eo 20.60 Fo 21.82 Go 24.40 Ao 27.50 Bo 29.13

32.7 D1 36.71 E1 41.20 F1 43.65 G1 48.99 A1 55.00 B1 61.73

65.41 D2 73.41 E2 82.41 F2 87.31 G2 97.99 A2 110.00 B2 123.47

130.8 D3 146.83 E3 164.81 F3 174.61 G3 195.99 A3 220.00 B3 246.94

261.6 D4 293.66 E4 329.63 F4 349.23 G4 391.99 A4 440.00 B4 493.88

523 D5 587.33 E5 659.25 F5 698.46 G5 783.99 A5 880.00 B5 987.78

1046.5 D6 1174.65 E6 1318.51 F6 1396.91 G6 1567.98 A6 1760 B6 1975.53

2093 D7 2349.31 E7 2637.02 F7 2793.82 G7 3135.96 A7 3520 B7 3952.06

4186 D8 4698.63 E8 5274.04 F8 5587.82 G8 6271.92 A8 7040 B8 7902.13

Appendix 2 Some paragraphs from the translation in modern English of the text of the first patent for musical instruments, granted in 1583—patent roll ref. c66/1231 m. 22, 10th April 1583 (Batchelar 2001, pp. 19, 20). Elisabeth by the grace of God To all maiors, sheriffs bailiffs and constable and to all other our officers ministers and subjects to whom these presents shall come greetings. Whereas our well bellowed subject George Langone of our trumpeters to his grate pains and charges hither byn the first deviser and maker within the Realm of England of sakbutts and trumpets not heretofore made. We as well in consideracon thereof as for som other good causes especially moving of our great especially certen knowledge and mere motion have given and granted and bt thes p’sents for us our heires and successors do give and graunte to the said George Langdale free license and priviledge for the making of sackbuttes and trumpets so that he only by himself or by his xx deputie or deputies shall and may from henceforthe during the space and tearme of twenty years after the day of the date ….

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References Agricola M (1529) Musica instrumentalis deudsch: a treatise on musical instruments (trans: Hettrick, W. E.) (1994). CUP Archive Almeida A, Lemare J, Sheahan M, Judge J, Auvray R, Dang K S, Wolfe J (2010) Clarinet parameter cartography: automatic mapping of the sound produced as a function of blowing pressure and reed force. In: Proceedings of the international symposium music acoustics ISMA. Proceedings of ISMA 2010, the international symposium on music acoustics (associated meeting of the international congress on acoustics). Sydney and Katoomba, Australia, 25–31 Aug 2010 Angster J (1990) State of the art measurement techniques and results of sound generation and vibration of labial organ pipes. Ph.D. thesis. University of Budapest Angster J, Miklos A (1998) Sound radiation of open labial organ pipes. The effect of the size of the openings on the formant structure. In: Proceedings of the ISMA’98 Leavenworth, WA, US, pp 267–272 Angster J, Angster J, Miklos A (1991) Über die Messungen während des Intonationsprozesses bei Lippenpfeifen der Orgel. Instrumentenbau-Zeitschrift 45:71–76 Angster J, Paal G, Garen W, Miklos A (1998) The effect of wall vibrations on the timbre of organ pipes. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Acoustics and 135th Acoustical Society, America Meeting, Seatle, pp 753–754 Angster J, Dubrovski Z, Pitsch S, Miklos A (2011) Impact of the material on the sound of flue organ pipes. Acoustic and vibration investigations with modern measuring techniques. In: Birnbaum C (ed) Analysis and description of musical instruments using engineering methods. Stiftung Haendel-Haus, Halle, Germany, pp 34–41 Angster J, Rucz P, Miklos A (2016) Detailed measurements on lingual organ pipes for developing innovative methods and software for the pipe design. J Acoust Soc Am 139(4):2119 Angster J, Rucz P, Miklos A (2017) Acoustics of organ pipes and future trends in the research. Acoust Today 13(1):10–18 Antegnati C (1608) L’arte organica. Brescia, Francesco Tebaldino Audsley, GS (1965) The art of organ building, vol 1, New York, Dover Publishing. First edition by Dood, Mead & Company in 1905 Backus J, Hundley TC (1965) Wall vibrations in flue organ pipes and their effect on tone. J Acoust Soc Am 39:936–945 Baines A (1957) Woodwind instruments and their history. 1st edn. Faber and Faber, London Baines A (1991) Woodwind instruments and their history. 3rd edn. Dover, New York Batchelar T (2001) The protection of innovation and the musical instrument industry. Ph.D. thesis, University of De Monfort, School of Law, Leicester Bate P (1969) The flute: a study of its history, development and construction. Benn Bate P (1975) The oboe. An outline of its history, development and construction. 3rd edn. WW Norton and Company, New York Beauregard C N (1970) The tuba; a description of the five orchestral tubas and guidelines for orchestral tuba writing. Doctoral dissertation, University of Rochester Bédos de Celles DF (1768) L’art du facteur d’orgues. Charles Ferguson (Trans.) (1977). The Organ-Builder. Sunbury Press, Raleigh, NC Benade AH (1976) Fundamentals of musical acoustics. Oxford University Press, New York Benade AH (1994) Woodwinds: the evolutionary path since 1700. Galpin Soc J 47:63–110 Benade AH, French J W (1965) Acoustics of flute. Analysis of the flute head joint. J Acoust Soc Am 37(4):679–691 Benade AH, Keefe DH (1996) The physics of a new clarinet design. Galpin Soc J 49:113–142 Berlioz H (1844) Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes, 1 ere Edition— Treatise on Instrumentation by Hector Berlioz, completed by Richard Strauss, in 1905, translated by Theodore Front, published by Edwin F. Kalmus, New York, 1948, reprint Dover 1991

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Part I

Description of Materials for Wind Instruments

Chapter 3

Wood Species for Reed-Driven Instruments—Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon and for Baroque Flute

3.1

Introduction

Since the sixteenth century, numerous European wood species were used for reeddriven instruments—clarinet, oboe, bassoon and also for Renaissance or Baroque flutes and for other woodwind instruments. All over the world, museums and private collections of musical instruments have authentic instruments, therefore the identification of wood species used for their manufacture is a possible task. Another source of information about wood species are the incunables, such as for example “Harmonie Universelle” by Marin Mersenne (1588–1648) published firstly in Paris in 1636 (Fig. 3.1). As noted by Zadro (1975a, b) “Mersenne writes of the flute in particular, but his statements apply to all the wind instruments of his and earlier time …”. He says “it is customary to choose wood of beautiful color, that will bear a high polish, to the end that the excellence of the instrument may be combined with beauty of appearance, so that the eye may in some sort participate in the pleasure of the ear”. Mersenne mentioned several wood species easily turned and bored such as boxwood, ebony, maple, and the fruitwoods such as pear wood, plum wood and cherry wood. Some period instruments have been the subject of fine arts pictures. As an example, we have the atmosphere of the musical activity of that time at the Prussian court of King Frederick the Great (himself a fine flute player) recreated by Adolph von Menzel (Fig. 3.2). It is worth mentioning that at the Prussian court Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) improved the transverse flute with wider bores. Several portraits illustrating flute players of sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries suggested a possible identification of wood species as we can see in Fig. 3.3. However, it is to note that classical flutes in wood have been made by musical instrument industry until 1920. After this date metallic flutes were preferred.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 V. Bucur, Handbook of Materials for Wind Musical Instruments, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19175-7_3

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Fig. 3.1 Facsimile of “Harmonie Universelle” by Marin Mersenne, published firstly in Paris in 1636—http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5471093v

Wood for wind musical instruments should be understood in terms of its physical and technological properties, but also in terms of its properties related to its craftmanship (Hoadley 2000). Among wood species, ebony was the most prized wood species giving to flutes a beautiful and clear tone. At the beginning of 19th century tropical wood species— kingwood, rosewoods, cocuswood, satinwood—were imported into Europe from

3.1 Introduction

129

Fig. 3.2 Flute concert of Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam, near Berlin, picture by Adolph von Menzel (1852). King Frederick the Great playing the flute in his music room and Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach accompanies him on the harpsichord (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_ Joachim_Quantz. Accessed June 2017)

Africa, South America and India. These very expensive wood species were preferred to the native European species. However, among European wood species, boxwood was used for chipper instruments, and maple was used for bassoons as well as rosewood for very fine bassoons made in France. African blackwood was used for manufacturing oboes, clarinets. wooden flutes and piccolos. Tropical wood species have a high density and therefore the wind instruments are very heavy. Even presently, the most appreciated wood species for woodwind instruments are African blackwood for small instruments and maple and rosewood for larger instruments. Maple can be of European or American origins (black maple, sugar maple). At the beginning of this chapter, we will be described the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of traditional wood species used for manufacturing of classical reed-driven wood wind instruments, clarinet, oboe and bassoon and also for Baroque flute made in wood. In the following sections of this chapter we will analyze the mechanical and acoustical properties of these species. The porosity of wood species as well as the quality of surface finishing are also important parameters for the quality of wood wind instruments. In the last section of this chapter we will describe the properties of some substitutive wood species for clarinet, oboe and bassoon.

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Fig. 3.3 Portraits of flute players with flutes made in boxwood, pear wood, ebony and ivory. Legend a Flute in boxwood. Portrait of the flutist W Wollaston (1730–1797) by T Gainsborough in Ipswich Museum UK (https://cimuseums.org.uk. Accessed 7 February 2018). b Flute in pear wood. Flutist portrait made in 1620 by Dirck van Babuen (1599–1624) (https://s-media-cache-ak0. pinimg.com/originals/d0/86/e1/d086e176f215ec8afb7e8eecde82179b.jpg. Accessed 7 February 2018). (c) Flute in ebony—Portrait of Francois Devienne, French flutist attributed to J. L. David (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/dd/75/71/dd7571abaa4d63d76c8d696e534d7bf0. jpg. Accessed 7 February 2018). (d) Flute in ivory—Portrait of the flutist J. J. Quantz (1697–1773) (http://www.quanz.net/JohannJoachimQuantz2.jpg. Accessed 7 February 2018)

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131

Traditional Wood Species for Baroque Flute and for Clarinet, Oboe and Bassoon

In this section will be described the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of traditional wood species used for manufacturing of Baroque Flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. The main macroscopic characteristics of wood material for woodwind instruments are described qualitatively as: wood free of defects (knots, spiral grain, decay, fungi attack), wood of straight grain, wood easy to be turned thinly on a lathe, wood having the ability to hold a screw (Heckel and Heckel 1931). The presence of knots and or other defects caused any instruments to be out of tune. Timber identification is based on dichotomous keys (i.e. softwood, or hardwood, ring porous, diffuse porous, etc.). For macroscopic identification of wood species, the following parameters are considered: color, texture, surface appearance, weight, hardness, feel, odour, presence of characteristic defects, etc. For macroscopic identification of timber, the specimen is examined in three symmetry planes, with the naked eye and sometimes with a magnifier lens of about 10 times magnification or 20 times magnification. Figure 3.4 shows the macroscopic aspect of species mostly used for woodwind instruments—boxwood, pearwood, maple, olivewood, cherry and plum. Figure 3.5 shows the macroscopic aspect of some Tropical wood species traditionally used for manufacturing of pipes for the Baroque flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon, namely African blackwood, cocobolo, rosewood, tulipwood, homduras rosewood and satinwood. Comments about color, texture, porous aspect on end grain and workability of some European and some tropical species for woodwind musical instruments are given respectively in Tables 3.1 and 3.2. Since 1980s vision technology, at the macroscopic scale, is used in wood manufacturing, and is focused mostly on automatic inspection for trimming or edging or product grading, such as automatic grading of lumber. Colour based inspection method segregates sound knots from dry knots. Microscopic identification of wood species under the optical microscope is based on the identification on dichotomous keys, where a step by step analytical procedure is used for the identification of structural elements such as fibers, parenchyma cells, medullary rays, etc. This procedure requires trained persons, specialised in this field of wood science. The structural elements of wood used in wood anatomy are described in the glossary of terms by the International Association of Wood Anatomists (Messeri and Scaramuzzi 1960). Given the purpose of this book, in this section we discuss only some essential aspects related to the anatomical elements at the microscopic level on transverse section of typical wood species for woodwind instruments—Pyrus communis, Buxus sempervirens, Acer platanoides, and Dalbergia. Spp. (Fig. 3.6). All these species belong to hardwoods, with vessels as a distinctive structural element. In transverse section the vessel are called pores. The vessels have a larger lumen than other types of cells. Vessels have different sizes depending upon wood species and

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Pear wood

Boxwood

Maple

Olivewood

Cherry – Prunus avium

Plum – Prunus domesticus

Fig. 3.4 Macroscopic aspect of some European wood species traditionally used for manufacturing of pipes for Baroque flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon (Photo E. Meier http://www.wooddatabase.com/. Accessed 26 May 2017)

location in the annual growth ring. Vessels in maple are larger in early wood. Numerous cells of medullary rays are present in all species. The rays are wide multiseriate in Acer platanoides and in Pyrus communis and very fine uniseriate in Dalbergia. spp. and in Buxus sempervirens. For wood species identification at the microscopic scale, there is a need for the development of an intelligent wood species recognition system. Several approaches have been proposed which were more or less successful but limited to a small number of species. Ultrasonic technique based on advanced signal processing such as the neural network analysis of ultrasonic signals that considered wave propagation phenomena in three anisotropic planes, allowed automatic identification of four species that originated from the temperate zone: oak, adler, maple and pine

3.2 Traditional Wood Species for Baroque Flute … African blackwood

Cocobalo

Rosewood

Tulipwood

Honduras rosewood

Satinwood

133

Fig. 3.5 Macroscopic aspect of some Tropical wood species traditionally used for manufacturing of pipes for Baroque flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon (Photo E. Meier http://www.wood-database. com/. Accessed 26 May 2017)

(Jordan et al. 1998). Identification of tropical wood species which are very numerous (about a thousand) is a more complicated task because of their very complex anatomical structure. Khalid et al. (2008) proposed an automatic recognition system of 30 wood species from Malaysia based on an image processing library, able to extract features from the wood anatomy. Kumar et al. (2012) reported a computer vision system for automatic plant species identification based on leaves characteristics. Automatic identification of wood species will undergo a large field of development in the near future. The reader interested in more details on wood anatomy can refer to Carlquist (2013) and to the Journal of International Association of Wood Anatomistes—IAWA.

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Table 3.1 About the color, texture, porous aspect on end grain and workability of some European wood species for woodwind musical instruments (data from E Meier http://www.wood-database. com/ Species

Colour

Texture

Porous on end grain

Workability

Pear wood

Heartwood is a pale pink or light reddish brown. Sapwood is slightly paler but is not usually distinct from heartwood. Pear is sometimes steamed to deepen the pink coloration. Pear is also occasionally dyed black and used as a substitute for ebony

Grain is usually straight, with a very fine uniform texture

Overall easy to work with both hand and machine tools. Turns, glues, and finishes well

Boxwood

Color tends to be a light cream to yellow, which tends to darken slightly with prolonged exposure to light. Sapwood not distinct from heartwood

Fine, even texture with a natural luster. The grain tends to be straight or slightly irregular

Sycomore maple

Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood. Sapwood color ranges from almost white, to a light golden or reddish brown, while the

Grain is generally straight, but may be wavy. Has a fine, even texture

Diffuse-porous; very small pores in no specific arrangement (very numerous); exclusively solitary; heartwood mineral/gum deposits (reddish brown) occasionally present; growth rings distinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma not clearly observable with hand lens Diffuse-porous; small pores, very numerous, exclusively solitary; growth rings distinct due to decrease in latewood pore frequency and color change; parenchyma not visible; narrow rays, normal spacing Curly Maple is not actually a species, but simply a description of a figure in the grain —it occurs most often in soft maples, but is also seen in hard maples. It is so called because the ripples in the

Superbly suited for turning. Tearout can occur on pieces with irregular grain during planing and other machining operations. Boxwood has a slight blunting effect on cutters

Fairly easy to work with both hand and machine tools, though maple has a tendency to burn when being machined with high-speed cutters such as in a router. Turns, glues, and finishes well, though (continued)

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Table 3.1 (continued) Species

Colour

Texture

heartwood is a darker reddish brown. Sycamore Maple can also be seen with curly grain patterns Olivewood

3.3

Heartwood is a cream or yellowish brown, with darker brown or black contrasting streaks. Color tends to deepen with age. Olive is sometimes figured with curly or wavy grain, burl, or wild grain

Grain may be straight, interlocked, or wild. Fine uniform texture with moderate natural luster

Porous on end grain

Workability

grain pattern create a three dimensional effect that appears as if the grain has “curled” along the length of the board Diffuse-porous; small pores in no specific arrangement; solitary, and commonly in radial multiples of 2–3 or rows of 4 or more pores; yellow heartwood deposits present; growth rings may be distinct or indistinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma vasicentric, aliform, and confluent, though not distinct with lens

blotches can occur when staining, and a pre-conditioner, gel stain, or toner may be necessary to get an even color Somewhat easy to work, though wild or interlocked grain may result in tearout during surfacing operations. Olive has high movement in service and is considered to have poor stability. Turns superbly. Glues and finishes well

Physical, Mechanical and Acoustical Properties of Traditional Wood Species

When we refer to physical properties of wood, in the most general context, we understand that the density is the first parameter to be taken into consideration, because it was generally assumed that the quality of wood material depends mainly on its density. Density is significantly correlated with the width of annual ring and the proportion of the two layers which compose the annual ring, the latewood and the early wood, produced by the tree during the autumn or during the spring time. Density depends on the moisture content of wood. Moisture content of wood in service plays an important role in the life of woodwind musical instruments. Shrinkage and swelling of wood are not the same in the three anisotropic directions of wood. For all wood species, the greatest dimensional change is in the tangential direction to the annual ring and could vary between 3.5 and 15%, for the moisture

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Table 3.2 About the color, texture and the workability of some Tropical wood species for woodwind musical instruments (data from E Meier http://www.wood-database.com/) Species African blackwood

Colour Heartwood is usually jet-black, with little to no variation or visible grain. Occasionally dark brown or grayish-brown streaks may be present

Texture Grain is usually straight but can also be interlocked. Fine even texture with very high natural luster

Porous on end grain Diffuse-porous; medium to large pores in no specific arrangement; solitary and radial multiples of 2–3; black mineral deposits present; growth rings indistinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma reticulate/ banded, possibly marginal, apotracheal parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates, paratracheal parenchyma vasicentric

Cocobolo

Cocobolo can be seen in a kaleidoscope of different colors, ranging from yellow, orange, red, and shades of brown with streaks of black or purple. Sapwood is typically a very pale yellow. Colors are lighter when freshly sanded/cut, and darken with age; for more information, see the article on preventing color changes in exotic woods

Grain is straight to interlocked, with a fine even texture. Good natural luster

Diffuse-porous; medium to very large pores in no specific arrangement, very few; solitary and radial multiples of 2–3; various mineral deposits occasionally present; parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates, vasicentric, and marginal; rays narrow, fairly close spacing

Workability Can be difficult to work due to its extremely high density. Has a dulling effect on cutters. Tearout may occur on pieces that have interlocked or irregular grain. Due to the high oil content found in this wood, it can occasionally cause problems with gluing. Finishes well, and polishes to a high luster. Responds well to steam bending Due to the high oil content found in this wood, it can occasionally cause problems with gluing. Also, the wood’s color can bleed into surrounding wood when applying a finish, so care must be taken on the initial seal coats not to smear the wood’s color/ oils into surrounding areas. Tearout can occur during planing if interlocked grain is present; the wood also has a moderate blunting effect on cutting edges/tools due to its high density. Cocobolo has excellent turning properties

(continued)

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Table 3.2 (continued) Species Rosewood

Tulipwood

Colour Brazilian Rosewood can vary in color from a darker chocolate brown to a lighter purplish or reddish brown, with darker contrasting streaks. The black streaks can sometimes form a unique grain pattern that is sometimes referred to as “spider-webbing” or “landscape,” very similar to Ziricote. Lighter yellowish sapwood is clearly demarcated from the heartwood Heartwood is streaked with yellows, reds, oranges, and pinks. Color and figure can be highly variegated

Texture Brazilian Rosewood has a uniform, medium to coarse texture with medium-sized open pores. The grain tends to be straight, but can occasionally be interlocked, spiraled, or wavy

Porous on end grain Diffuse-porous; medium to large pores in no specific arrangement; solitary and radial multiples of 2–3; mineral deposits occasionally present; growth rings indistinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma banded (seemingly marginal), apotracheal parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates, paratracheal parenchyma vasicentric, sometimes weakly aliform

Workability Easy to work with both hand and machine tools, though it may have a slight blunting effect on cutting edges. Brazilian Rosewood turns, and finishes well, though it can sometimes be difficult to glue due to its high natural oil content

Pores are open and medium-sized. Grain is usually straight, with a fine texture

Semi-ring-porous; medium sized earlywood pores, small latewood pores, solitary and in radial multiples of 2–3; light red heartwood deposits present; growth rings usually distinct; rays not visible without lens; parenchyma banded (marginal), apotracheal parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates, paratracheal parenchyma vasicentric, and occasionally weakly aliform (winged)

Tends to be difficult to work due to its high density; also has a blunting effect on cutters. Can be difficult to glue do to an abundance of natural oils and high density. Turns very well and takes a high polish

content variation between green and oven dry. The radial shrinkage varies between 2 and 10%. The longitudinal shrinkage is very small ranging between 0.1 and 0.9%. Acoustical properties of wood are related to the elastical properties of wood such as for example the moduli of elasticity and the velocities of propagation of elastic waves in wood. Careful selection of wood according to its density and its elastical parameters and corresponding velocities of wave propagation is a key step for grading pieces for musical instruments. It is to note that density is a scalar while the

138

(a)

(c)

3 Wood Species for Reed-Driven Instruments—Clarinet, Oboe …

Pyrus communis - Pear wood

(b) Buxus sempervirens –Boxwood; Bar: 50 μm

Acer platanoides

(d) Dalbergia Spp.Bar 200 μm

Fig. 3.6 Microscopic sections of some species for woodwind instruments (data from “Atlas of plant anatomy” (https://botweb.uwsp.edu/anatomy/images/dicotwood/pages_c/Anat0335new.htm. Accessed 14 June 2017). a Pyrus communis—Pear wood, https://botweb.uwsp.edu/anatomy/ images/dicotwood/pages_c/Anat0335new.htm; b Buxus sempervirens—Boxwood; Bar: 50 lm, http://cool.conservation-us.org/jaic/articles/jaic40-01-004.html; c Acer platanoides, http://www. sbs.utexas.edu/mauseth/weblab/webchap15wood/15.3-2.htm; d Dalbergia Spp. Bar 200 µm. Photo A. Musson / Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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139

velocity is a vector able to bring specific information related to each anisotropic plane of wood. Bucur (2006) reviewed the acoustical methods for the determination of all elastical constants of wood (three Young’s moduli, three shear moduli and six Poisson’s ratios). Among the elastical parameters of wood, in the literature, a preference is given to the modulus of Young along the direction of fibres, EL, probably because this parameter gives the highest values. Other parameters reported in the literature are the modulus of rupture in tension, the crushing modulus, and Janka hardness of wood. Tables 3.3 and 3.4 give data related to wood species for woodwind instruments. Table 3.3 Some physical and mechanical characteristics of European wood species for Baroque flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon (data from E Meier http://www.wood-database.com/) Parameters

Wood species Boxwood

Common name (s)

Boxwood, Common box, European box Buxus sempervirens Europe, North-West Africa, and South-West Asia 3–8 m tall, 12–20 cm trunk diameter 975

Scientific name Distribution

Tree size

Average dry density (kg/m3) Specific gravity at 12% MC Janka hardness (N) Modulus of rupture (MPa) Elasticity modulus EL (GPa) Velocity VLL (m/s) Crushing strength (MPa) Shrinkage

Pear

Maple

Olivewood

Pearwood

Olivewood

Native to Central and Eastern Europe

Sycamore maple, European sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus Europe and South-Western Asia

6–9 m tall, 15–30 cm trunk diameter 690

25–35 m tall, 1.0–1.2 m trunk diameter 615

8–15 m tall, 1.0–1.5 m trunk diameter 990

0.98

0.69

0.62

0.99

12,610

7380

4680

12,010

144.5

83.3

98.1

155.4

17.20

7.80

9.92

17.77

4152

3362

4012

4237

68.6

44.1

55.0

77.1

Radial: 6.2%, tangential: 9.8%, volumetric: 15.8%, T/R ratio: 1.6

Radial: 3.9%, tangential: 11.3%, volumetric: 13.8%, T/R ratio: 2.9

Radial: 4.5%, tangential: 7.8%, volumetric: 12.3%, T/R ratio: 1.7

Radial: 5.4%, tangential: 8.8%, volumetric: 14.4%, T/R ratio: 1.6

Pyrus communis

Olea europaea, O. capensis Europe and Eastern Africa

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Table 3.4 Some physical and mechanical characteristics of some Tropical wood species for Baroque flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon (data from E Meier http://www.wood-database.com/) Parameters

Wood species Cocobolo

Common name (s)

Cocobolo, Cocobola, Cocabola

Scientific name

Rosewood

Tulipwood

Ebony

Brazilian Tulipwood

African Blackwood

Dalbergia retusa

Brazilian Rosewood, Bahia Rosewood, Jacaranda Dalbergia nigra

Dalbergia melanoxylon

Distribution

Central America

Brazil

Tree size

14–18 m tall, 50–60 cm trunk diameter 1095

30–40 m tall, 1–1.2 m trunk diameter 835

Dalbergia decipularis Dalbergia frutescens Northeastern Brazil 6–9 m tall, 0.3 m trunk diameter 970

Central and Southern Africa 6–9 m tall, 0.6–1.0 m trunk diameter 1270

1.10

0.84

0.97

1.27

14,140

12,410

11,120

16,320

158.0

135.0

No data

213.6

18.70

13.93

–

17.95

4133

4085

–

3759

81.3

67.2

–

72.9

Radial: 2.7%, tangential: 4.3%, volumetric: 7.0%, T/ R ratio: 1.6

Radial: 2.9%, tangential: 4.6% volumetric: 8.5%, T/R ratio: 1.6

–

Radial 2.9%, tangential 4.8%, volumetric 7.7%, T/R ratio: 1.7

Average dry density (kg/m3) Specific gravity at 12% MC Janka hardness (N) Modulus of rupture (MPa) Elasticity modulus EL (GPa) Velocity VLL (m/s) Crushing strength (MPa) Shrinkage

Beside the parameters described previously, other two parameters should be taken into consideration namely the porosity and the roughness of wood species. These two parameters play an important role on acoustic dissipation in wooden pipes of woodwind instruments. Internal tube surface quality of the resonator may affect its wall impedance and the thickness of thermal and viscous boundary layers (Boutin et al. 2017). In next section we will analyse aspects related to the porosity and surface roughness of wood species.

3.4 Porosity of Wood Species

3.4

141

Porosity of Wood Species

Wood is a porous material, which at oven dry state is composed of the solid wood substance of its cell walls and of the cell cavities containing air and a very small amounts of sap constituents (proteins, mineral and other substances such as resins, gums, etc.). In wood science, under the general label of pores are described some particular wood anatomy features such as tracheids, vessels, fibres, parenchyma cells, etc. visible on transverse section of specimens in RT anisotropic plane. However, the cell walls have also perforations, pits, etc. These elements visible only at microscopic and submicroscopic levels in plane LR and LT contribute also to wood porosity. The density of wood depend on the void volume of pores. The volume fraction of pores determines the flow of liquids in wood, and implicitly the moisture content of wood. Taking the radius of pores as reference, the pores in wood are classified in three groups: macro-pores with radius > 1
104 Å = 1
10-6 m; meso-pores with radius between 1
103 Å … 1
104 Å; and micro-pores with radius < 1
103 Å (Kollmann 1987). We would like to underline how strongly wood porosity is connected to wood density. For all wood species, the density of the solid wood substance is about 1.5 kg/m3 (called also skeletal density). In fact, this value corresponds to the lignified cellulosic cell wall which is non-porous. However, the cell wall of timber is characterised by minute cavities, capillaries, etc. which make this material very porous. The void volume of the lightest wood such balsa (Ochroma lagopus) with density of about 160 kg/m3 may amount to 97%, whereas that of the heaviest timber such as black ironwood (Krugiodendron ferreum) of density 1355 kg/m3 may be only 7% (Kollmann and Côté 1984). Wood porosity (n) is calculated as n = 1 − q/qs, where q is the oven-dry bulk density of wood and qs is the cell wall density (1.4 … 1.5 kg/m3). Wood species are labelled as diffuse porous species or ring porous species. The disposition of pores is observed in annual ring in transverse section. Pore size and disposition determine the macroscopic behaviour of wood species. Several techniques are used for the determination of wood porosity, such as techniques based on gas absorption, electron microscopy and mercury intrusion in wood structure. Mercury porosimetry is widely used because Hg is not wetting and does not penetrate pores by capillary action. Mercury penetrates wood structure under pressure. Therefore, measurements can be performed for the determination of the total intrusion volume, the size of pores, the size distribution of pores, the total pore surface, the apparent specific density (called also the skeletal density). With mercury porosimetry there is a limitation of radius pore measurements, to 1.8 nm. As regards the porosity of wood species for woodwind instruments, the data in the literature are scarce, because species such as boxwood, pear wood, sycamore maple and African blackwood are used in the wood industry in very small quantities. However, as we shall see in Sect. 3.7, the porosity of wood species has an important effect on attenuation and acoustic dissipation inside the bores of the corpus of the instruments and, on the amplitude and on the width of air column resonances.

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Table 3.5 Porosity, calculated and measured with mercury intrusion porosimetry in Buxus sempervirens, Acer campestre and Diospyros celebica, on oven dry specimens (data from Plötze and Niemz 2011) Species

Oven dry bulk density (kg/m3)

Cell wall density (kg/m3)

Total porosity (calculated) (%)

Mercury intrusion porosity (measured) (%)

Buxus sempervirens Acer campestre Diospyros celebica

0.940

1.506

37.57

37.51

0.483

1.512

68.05

69.69

1.156

1.484

22.10

23.30

Table 3.6 Relative volume of pores (%) and pore size distribution measured with mercury intrusion porosimetry, in Buxus sempervirens, Acer campestre and Diospyros celebica, on oven dry specimens (data from Plötze and Niemz 2011) Species

Buxus sempervirens Acer campestre Diospyros celebica

Relative pore volume (%) Macro Macro Meso pores pores pores

Micro pores

58–2 µm

2–0.5 µm

500–80 nm

80–1.8 nm

Pore radius (most frequent) nm

5.29 31.63 10.32

17.34 58.57 6.24

6.44 7.39 9.48

70.93 2.41 73.95

10.2 525.9 30.2

Table 3.7 Porosity of maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) determined with gas pycnometry, on oven dry specimens (data from Zauer et al. 2013) Species

Maple

Specimen thickness

2 mm 6 mm

Thickness orientation

Axis Axis Axis Axis

L T L T

Gas pycnometry Helium Porosity Cell wall (%) density (kg/m3)

Nitrogen Cell wall density (kg/m3)

Porosity (%)

1.51 1.43 1.43 1.40

1.46 – – –

64.7 – – –

65.8 64.3 84.0 63.1

The porosity of some wood species used for the woodwind instruments are given in Tables 3.5 and 3.6. Measurements with mercury intrusion porosimetry were carried out on specimens of 0.5 g. and of 20
6
6 mm. In Table 3.7 is given the porosity of maple with gas pycnometry.

3.4 Porosity of Wood Species

143

The anisotropic plane and the size of the specimens significantly affect the values of porosity. The porosity in the direction of fibres determined on L specimens is higher than the porosity measured on T specimens, perpendicular to fibres. However, the larger thickness specimen—6 mm has a smaller porosity (64% in L; 63.1% in T) than the 2 mm thick specimen (65.8% in L; 64.3% in T). This is due to the fact that with this methodology, some pores were inaccessible, and some wood cell lumen were uncut. Cell wall density and porosity using nitrogen were lower, compared to the values measured with helium. Nitrogen molecules are larger than the helium molecules and some micropores (pits) in the cell wall cannot be reached by the gas. On the other hand, helium is not adsorbed on the surface of wood, and therefore more suitable for wood porosity measurements.

3.5

Surface Roughness Characterisation of Wood Species

Surface texture of materials is defined as having local deviations—small or large— compared with a perfect flat plane. Surface roughness is an expression of finely spaced irregularities and is different from the waviness which is due to the vibrations of tools and of workpieces during machining (Aguilera et al. 2007). Wood surface roughness can be measured with a stylus—tracing device or with a laserscatter beam device (Funck et al. 1993). Evaluation of surface roughness of wood products has the goal to predict surface performance and to monitor the quality of the manufacturing process. For many wood products, the quality of the surface is of primarily aesthetic importance. The effect of surface roughness on the performance of finish was reported by Richter et al. (1995). Surface roughness of wood species is determined by their very complex structure (Thoma et al. 2015). The porous nature of wood and the grain figures will never produce a perfect smooth surface. Another factor acting on surface roughness is the moisture content of wood. Small changes of wood moisture content can have huge impact on surface geometry, roughness, or, flatness. The effect of grain angle and surface roughness on the amplitude of acoustic emission signals during wood machining was observed by Aguilera et al (2007). Machine conditions, and kinematics of the cutting process, vibrations, tool wear, tool maintenance, etc., can have catastrophic consequences on surface quality, and in case of musical instruments, on their tone quality. Figure 3.7 shows the surface roughness of the edge hole of a flute made by Potter on a “1851 Clinton flute”. Wood surface roughness is described by different parameters such as statistical height descriptors (amplitude parameters, extreme value height descriptors), texture parameters, probability descriptors (probability density functions, etc.). More elaborated techniques for signal analysis such as autocorrelation, FFT profile spectrum frequency, etc. can be used, as mentioned by Sandak and Negri (2005). Figure 3.8 shows the effect of wood anisotropy on surface roughness, expressed by two parameters, Ra—average roughness and Ry maximum height of the profile.

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Fig. 3.7 Surface roughness of the edge hole of a flute made by Potter on a “1851 Clinton flute” (Photo McGee http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/making.html. Accessed 9 June 2017)

The roughness along the grain (Ra along the grain = 6.54 µm) is lower than the roughness perpendicular to the grain (Ra perpendicular to the grain = 32.39 µm). Stronger differences were observed when comparing Ry maximum height of the profile i.e. Ry along the grain = 47.78 µm and Ry across the grain = 237 µm. The effect of machining on surface roughness of sugar maple is shown in Fig. 3.9. LT surfaces of sugar maple have been cut with a fixed—oblique knife pressure bar system. Multiseriate rays were seriously affected by the cutting. Groups of cells were pulled out by the lateral forces developed during cutting process. As regards the roughness of wood species for woodwind musical instruments, the roughness parameters should be referred mostly to the longitudinal plane LR and LT. The pipes of the corpus are firstly drilled using a lathe and a stainless-steel reamer. The inner surface is polished with fine sandpaper of average particle diameter 68, 36 and 23 µm. We shall see in the next section the effect of cutting out of principal symmetry planes on acoustic dissipation.

3.5 Surface Roughness Characterisation of Wood Species

145

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 3.8 Effect of anisotropy on surface roughness parameters Ra—average roughness; and Ry maximum height of the profile (Sandak and Negri 2005, Fig. 3, p. 6). Legend a measurements along the grain; b measurements at 45° to the grain; c measurements perpendicular to the grain. Axis x—the length of the piece; Axis y—amplitude in arbitrary units (Sandak and Negri 2005)

146

3 Wood Species for Reed-Driven Instruments—Clarinet, Oboe …

Fig. 3.9 Effect of oblique cutting on roughness of LT surfaces of sugar maple (de Moura and Hernandez 2007, Fig. 6, p. 24). Legend a Splits in multiserate rays parallel to the knife cutting edge, for cutting depth 0.25 mm, cutting angle 30°. b Multiseriate rays that underwent ruptures by bending below the cutting plane. c Rays severed in the cutting plane. d Group of cells pulled out by the lateral cutting forces

3.6

Effect of Surface Finishing Quality on Acoustical Characteristics of Instruments

In musical wind instruments like clarinet, oboe and bassoon, the inner surface of the resonating body has bores and has the wall with variable roughness and porosity, depending mostly of the wood species used. Commonly for the manufacturing of clarinet, oboe and bassoon, the inner surface of the body and the bores are drilled, polished and oiled. Boutin et al. (2017) noticed that the technological condition of the inner wall “may affect the wall impedance and the thickness of thermal and viscous boundary layers and consequently the acoustic dissipation inside the bore”. The propagation of acoustic waves in cylindrical pipes, with non-porous and perfectly smooth walls have been thoroughly studied (Pierce 1981; Bruneau et al. 1989; Chaigne and Kergomard 2016). Experimentally, the technological condition of the inner surface of a resonator can be determined by impedance measurements

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and by calculating the characteristic impedances and the attenuation factors over a continuous frequency range 50 Hz up to 2.5 kHz. The impedance is defined as the ratio between pressure and acoustic velocity in the longitudinal direction of each pipe of the corpus. As given in Chaigne and Kergomard (2016) and Boutin et al. (2017), the input impedance of a cylindrical pipe is given by the following expression Z¼

ZL þ ZC j tan ðkLÞ 1 þ ðZL =ZC Þj tan ðkLÞ

where L is the length of the air column, ZL the impedance at the far end, k is the qffiffiffiffiffiffiffi wave number, and ZC is ZC ¼ Z2 2 ZZ12  1 and Z1 ¼ ZC =ðj tanðkL1 ÞÞ when the length is L1, and, Z2 ¼ ZC =ðj tanðkL1 =2ÞÞ, when the length is L1/2. The attenuation factor C is equal to the real part of the propagation constant jk which is C ¼ ReðjkÞ Boutin et al. (2017) calculated the characteristic impedances and the attenuation factor of the corpus of four cylindrical wooden pipes oriented along the longitudinal axis of wood, made on pear wood (Pyrus communis), boxwood (Buxus sempervirens), African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) and maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) and one pipe in maple with the axis at 60° versus the fibres direction. The length of pipes was 240 mm, the inner diameter of the pipe 15 mm and the outer diameter of the pipe 30 mm. A rigid cylindrical plastic tube of 400 mm length was used as reference, having the diameter of 18 mm, much larger than the viscous and thermal characteristics length, respectively of about 40 and 60 nm at room temperature and normal air relative humidity. The inner surface of the plastic tube was smooth and non-porous. The characteristic impedance and the attenuation factor are deduced from two impedance measurements with close end, one having an air column twice as long as the other. Figure 3.10a, b gives the variation of attenuation factors as a function of frequency in unpolished and polished pipes made in various wood species (maple, boxwood, pear wood, African blackwood), compared with a theoretical model of a smooth non-porous pipe, with visco-thermal losses inside the bore. For unpolished pipes having the longitudinal axis parallel to the direction of the fibres, the attenuation factor is 0.07 m−1 for African blackwood and pear wood at 300 Hz and is 0.40 m−1 for a straight maple tube at 2.5 kHz. For the tubes made in “inclined maple” we observe high fluctuations of the attenuation factor, ranging between 0.29 m−1 at 312 Hz and 0.85 m−1 at 2.2 kHz. These fluctuations are much higher than for pipes having the longitudinal axis in the fibres’ direction. By analysing these data, we noticed that the fiber direction may affect the inner surface condition in a very drastic way. It is also worth noting that in maple, the velocity of bulk longitudinal waves in the fibres direction is 4800 m/s, in the radial direction is 2380 m/s and in the tangential direction is 1550 m/s. On pipes with the longitudinal axis at 60° the drop of velocity could be between 2300 and 1700 m/s, depending on the zone of the pipe more oriented to LR plane or to LT plane. If we refer to the

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(a)

(b)

Fig. 3.10 Variation of attenuation factors as a function of frequency in unpolished and polished pipes made in various wood species (maple, boxwood, pear wood, African blackwood), compared with a theoretical model of a smooth non-porous pipe, with visco-thermal losses inside the bore (Adapted from Boutin et al. 2017, Figs. 6 and 7, p. 2845). Legend a unpolished pipes; b polished pipes

attenuation coefficient a, in the direction of fibres we have in the three anisotropic directions of wood, the following values: aL = 0.80 Neper/m, aR = 2.70 Neper/m and aT = 3.50 Neper/m (Bucur 2006). It is worth mentioning that these numbers “act” in favour of the hypothesis that wall material interacts with the phenomena related to sound propagation into the corpus of wind instruments. For polished pipes, the attenuation factors globally increase with frequency. i.e. for African blackwood is 0.06 m−1 in 300 Hz to 0.37 m−1 for straight maple in 2.5 Hz. For inclined maple the attenuation is reduced between 0.19 m−1 in 300 Hz and 0.44 m−1 in 2.5 kHz. Pear wood and boxwood curves are very closed between 674 and 913 Hz. However, the attenuation factors of polished pipes are ranked in the same order, from largest to smallest, as for unpolished pipes, namely inclined

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Fig. 3.11 Effect of polishing expressed by the ratios of attenuation factors C as a function of frequency for three representative cases: Cinclined maple/Cstraight maple; Cstraight maple/CAfrican blackwood; Cstraight maple before polishing/Cstraight maple after polishing (Adapted Boutin et al. 2017, Fig. 10, p. 2847)

and straight maple, boxwood, pear wood and African blackwood. Some interesting aspects have been revealed in Fig. 3.11 by observing as a function of frequency, the variation of the ratios involving the following three ratios: Cstraight maple/CAfrican blackwood; Cstraight maple before polishing/Cstraight maple after polishing, and, Cinclined maple/ Cstraight maple. Before polishing, the ratio Cinclined maple/Cstraight maple is 2.9, and after polishing this ratio is 1.5. This means that the modification of the structural orientation of the pipe affect the acoustic dissipation and the internal condition of the pipe surface. This effect is more important than the polishing or changing the species. The value of the attenuation in African blackwood pipe is very close to the attenuation in a non-porous and smooth pipe, where the acoustic dissipation is due only to the visco-thermal losses. In African blackwood the effect of polishing is negligible. In other hardwood species polishing reduced roughness because fine particles of the abrasive paper may seal some pores and may reduce surface porosity inside the bore and, at the same time, reduces the thickness of the boundary layers. For this reason, the attenuation factors are smaller after polishing for all species, except the African blackwood of very low natural porosity. The surface condition of the bore can be improved by oiling as we can see in Fig. 3.12 in which are represented the variation of the quality factor Q of the first 12 picks of impedance versus frequency for the following two tube specimens: a maple tube specimen cut perfectly in wood anisotropic axes and a tube maple specimen cut out of axes, whose bore exhibited higher porosity because the anatomical elements were more open by this out of axis cut. The specimens were immersed in oil twice and the Q factors were compared with the initial natural specimens, not immersed in oil. Specimens cut in axes has higher Q factor, values after the first and second oiling. However, no significant differences was noted between the first and

150

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Fig. 3.12 Effect of oiling on tube specimens made in maple (Boutin et al. 2015, Fig. 2, p. 4). Legend a variation of amplitude versus frequency (left) and quality factor versus frequency (right) of twelve pics impedance of tubes specimen cut in axes in maple natural, initial state (□) D first oiling; o second oiling. Specimen cut out of axes: ● natural, initial; ▼ first oiling; ■ second oiling; b comparison of three curves of impedance versus frequency: a tube made in maple cut in axes, not immersed in oil (green), a tube immersed in oil twice (blue) and a model of a rigid tube

the second oiling which were very different from the initial state. For the second specimen, there is an evident difference between the natural state and the first oiling and the second oiling, probably because surface porosity modification.

3.7

Substitutive Species for Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon

When we come to consider the most suitable wood species for making woodwind instruments, we should consider firstly the workability of proposed substitutive species. The elastic and damping properties of substitutive species are parameters of second order of importance, since the impedance of the resonator tube wall is extremely high compared with that of the air column. However, for wood substitutive species research was firstly oriented towards the species having anatomical

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elements able to mimic as well as possible the anatomic structure of reference species. It is generally accepted that the best wood species should have high density, a compact anatomic structure, straight grain, and should have a good dimensional stability, will not split or distort because of moisture content variation, and can be bored, polished and oiled. The tube must support the posts of the keywork without cracking. Wood should be seasoned for several years and bored out well undersize and left for about one year to dry for the reduction of internal stresses. The finish is by oil polishing, which must be renewed periodically along the entire life time of the instrument. Another very important requirement is for the finishing of the interior of the tube. We have seen previously that the smoothness of the internal surface of the tube influences the viscous losses from the air column. Therefore, the internal surface of the tube should be very well polished. In this section, we will analyse some wood species able to respond as well as possible to all these requirements. Selected wood species from the forests in Alaska where wood species have small annual ring width, and from tropical rain forests in Africa, South America and Australia. The selection of the new species is based on their anatomical structural parameters and on their physical and acoustical properties. Some factors of influence that are taken into account include the influence on the timbre of the instrument, the hardness and the stiffness to support the posts of the keywork, the water absorption for dimensional stability of the instrument and the aesthetic value.

3.7.1

Substitutive Hardwood Species from Alaska Forests

Alaska has good forestry potential. The very cold climate influences the growing conditions of trees, producing elements with uniform small growth rings. The diameter of trees can be of about 0.6 m. There are two potential species for woodwind instruments, namely Red adler (Alnus rubra) and Alaska paper birch (Betula neoalaskana). Levings (2012) studied the anatomical characteristics of these species for bassoon manufacturing. Table 3.8 presents characteristics required for these Table 3.8 Characteristics which can be used to define a wood species for bassoon manufacturing (data from Levings 2012)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Characteristics

Value

Tree trunk diameter Annual growth ring Clarity of wood Twisting of trunk Defects Axial parenchyma width Fiber length Vessel width Vessel length Specific gravity

>0.5 m Straight Clear None None