Hossack, Will

Chick, John

Campbell, Murray

Logie, Shona Mary

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

2013-08-02T10:39:47Z

2013-08-02T10:39:47Z

2013-07-01

When assessing the quality of a brass instrument the player must consider a number of factors, the main consideration being the playability of the chosen instrument. The playability of an instrument is a broad term used to describe how well the instrument plays; this includes how in tune the resonant modes are, how easy it is to start and move between notes, how easy it is to bend notes and the degree of spectral enrichment during a crescendo that is able to be produced. The starting transient is known to be of crucial importance for both the musician and listener, and previous work in the field has been mainly concerned with such starting transients; this work focusses on inter-note transitions. Transitions between notes include both starting and finishing transients as the initial note is ended and the next begun. Using high speed photography images synchronised with pressure signals from the mouthpiece and bell end, the internote transitions are explored. Results from these experiments are compared with those from a simple one dimensional time domain model. Other techniques used to determine the playability of a specific instrument include the rate at which the instrument timbre becomes `brassy' due to nonlinear effects, that are a consequence of loud playing. The relative significance of viscothermal wall losses and nonlinear effects within realistic brass instruments have been explored here using experiments on cylindrical tubes of different internal diameters. These experimental results are compared with results from a computational model that uses weakly nonlinear wave propagation theory and includes viscothermal losses. It is also possible on some brass instruments, when playing loudly, to achieve what are known as super high notes; these notes are above the frequency where the instrument has well defined resonances. Experimental results are presented here using optical techniques to visualise the motion of the player's lips during playing of these super high notes.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7617

en

The University of Edinburgh

S.M. Logie, S. Stevenson, A.G. Apostoli, J.P. Chick, and D.M. Campbell. Transient behaviour in the motion of the brass player's lips during a lip-slur. In Proceedings NAG/DAGA International Conference on Acoustics, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2009.

A.G. Apostoli, S.M. Logie, A. Myers, J.A. Kemp, J.P. Chick, and A.C.P. Braden. Reconstructing the Lituus: A reassessment of impedance, harmonicity, and playability. In Proceedings NAG/DAGA International Conference on Acoustics, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2009.

John P. Chick and Shona M. Logie. Comparison of the mechanics of brass player's lips during slurred note transients. In J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125, 2598, 2009.

Shona Logie, Murray Campbell, John Chick, Arnold Myers and Joel Gilbert. Musical consequences of nonlinear sound propagation in brass instruments. In J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128, 2282, 2010.

Jonathan A. Kemp, Shona M. Logie, John P. Chick, Richard A. Smith, and D. Murray Campbell. Analysis of transients for brass instruments under playing conditions using multiple microphones. In Proceedings 10 eme Congres Francais d'Acoustique, Lyon, France, 2010.

Shona Logie, John Chick, Sam Stevenson, Murray Campbell. Upward and downward slurred transients on brass instruments: why is one not simply the inverse of the other? In Proceedings 10 eme Congres Francais d'Acoustique, Lyon, France, 2010.

John Chick, Shona Logie, Jonathan Kemp, Murray Campbell, and Richard Smith. An exploration of extreme high notes in brass playing. In Proceedings International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, Sydney, Australia, 2010.

Shona M. Logie, Stefan Bilbao, John P. Chick, and D. Murray Campbell. The influence of transients on the perceived playability of brass instruments. In Proceedings International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, Sydney, Australia. 2010.

L. Norman, J.P. Chick, S. Logie, and D.M. Campbell. Pitch bending on early brass instruments. In Proceedings International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, Sydney, Australia. 2010.

Shona Logie, John Chick, Murray Campbell, and Stefan Bilbao. The influence of bore profile on slurred transients in brass instruments. In Proceedings Forum Acusticum, Aalborg, Denmark, 2011.

John P. Chick, Shona Logie, D. Murray Campbell, Arnold Myers, and Joel Gilbert. Effects of viscothermal losses on wavefront distortion due to nonlinear propagation in trombones. In Proceedings Forum Acusticum, Aalborg, Denmark, 2011.

Arnold Myers, Robert W. Pyle, Joel Gilbert, D. Murray Campbell, John P. Chick, and Shona Logie. Effects of nolinear sound propagation on the characteristic timbres of brass instruments. In J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 131, 678, 2012.

John P. Chick, Shona Logie, Murray Campbell, and Joel Gilbert. Spectral enrichment and wall losses in trombones played at high dynamic levels. In Proceedings 11th Congres Francais d'Acoustique and 2012 IOA Annual Meeting, Nantes, France, 2012.

brass instruments

acoustics

transients

playing characteristics

Acoustical study of the playing characteristics of brass wind instruments

An acoustical study of the playing characteristics of brass wind instruments

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy