Comparison of Human and Artificial Playing of a Single Reed Instrument
Résumé
This work presents an aspirating artificial player and studies its ability to reproduce how a musician plays. This device is designed in order to characterise reeds in realistic playing conditions, ensuring controllable and repeatable measurements. The experiments are conducted using a simplified clarinet equipped with an instrumented mouthpiece. The simplified musical instrument can be played by a musician or artificially. The working range of the artificial player is studied for different artificial lip positions and supply pressures. The playing parameters (frequency, pressure amplitude and reed displacement amplitude) obtained with the artificial player are compared with those obtained with a musician. This allows for the identification of the optimal working point in which the artificial player best reproduces the musician's playing. The pressure difference across the reed and the displacement signals are compared for the musician and the artificial player. The artificial player reproduces accurately the pressure difference across the reed, but not the displacement. In the open position, inertial effects appear in the reed displacement for the musician, but not for the artificial player. This reveals differences between the artificial and the musician's lip.