Vibrations of the Reed and the Air Column in the Clarinet

John Backus

Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 33, 806 (1961); doi: 10.1121/1.1908803
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1908803
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/33/6
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOLUME 33, NUMBER 6 JUNE, 1961

Vibrations of the Reed and the Air Column in the Clarinet

JOHNBACKUS
Universityof SouthernCalifornia, Los Angeles7, California
(ReceivedFebruary 14, 1961)

The vibrationsof an artificiallyblownclarinetwere studiedby a photoelectric methodin whichlight

from a sourceplacedat the bell of the instrumentpassedthroughthe aperturebetweenthe reedand the
mouthpieceand into a photomultipliertube whoseoutputwas observedon an oscilloscope. It wasfound
that for loud tonesthe apertureis practicallycompletelyclosedfor about one-halfcycleand completely
openfor the otherhalf. For softertonesthe aperturedoesnot closecompletelyandthe reedmotionbecomes
nearlysinusoidal.A smallcondenser microphone insertedin the clarinetmouthpieceallowedsimultaneous
observationsof the reed vibrations and air column vibrations to be made. It was found that during that
part of its motionthat the reedis not in contactwith the mouthpiece it followsquitefaithfullythe varia-
tionsin mouthpiece air pressure.The soundpressure levelin the mouthpiece reaches166db for loudtones;
this value checkswell with the pressurerequiredfor blowingthe instrument.The increasedloudnessof the
clarineton harderblowingis dueprimarilyto the increased productionof harmonics.

INTRODUCTION
the clarinet reed and state that the apertureis openfor
about one-quartercycle and closedfor the remainder.
HE orchestral reedinstruments--oboe, clarinet,
and bassoon--have evolved into their present Ashoff6 has studied the tone productionof the clarinet
forms as a result of an empirical developmentlasting under various blowing conditions and made strobo-
several centuries. The acoustical bases for the behavior scopicobservationsof the reed motion.
of these instruments are not yet well established.In EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
particular, the behaviour of the reed itself and its
relationship to the vibrations of the air column of the In the present investigationthe motion of the reed
instrumenthave receivedpractically no attention. The was studiedby meansof a photoelectricmethod.Light
presentpapergivesthe first resultsof someexperimental from a sourceplaced oppositethe bell of the clarinet
investigationsrecently undertakenin this area. passesdown the bore of the instrument, through the
Among the woodwind instruments the clarinet aperturebetweenthe reedand the mouthpiece,and into
appearsthe easiestto experimentwith by virtue of its a photomultiplier tube. The output of this tube is
rather wide straight cylindricalbore and singlebeating observedon an oscilloscope,whosedeflectionis thus
reed. The harmonic structures of clarinet tones have proportionalto the area of the reed aperture.
been analyzed by several workers.•-3 Ghosh4 has pro- A sketch of the experimental arrangement used is
poseda theory of the clarinet basedon somequestion- shownin Fig. 1, which is drawn to the scaleindicated.
able assumptions,one of them being that the aperture A blowing chamber of rectangular crosssection sur-
formed between the reed and the mouthpieceis never roundsthe mouthpieceof the clarinet and is sealedto
completelyclosed.McGinnis and Gallagher5have made the barrel. Air from a household vacuum cleaner is fed
qualitative stroboscopic observationsof the motion of into the chamber, the air pressurebeing read on a
diaphragm gauge. The usual blowing pressureis be-
tween5 and 20 in. of water (10-40 mm Hg). The same
ADJUSTING•_,.
SCREWS•. -' •_ "LIP"
CLARINET
BARREL
range of pressuresis required for blowing the clarinet
by mouth. The vacuum cleaneris mountedin a sound
- • ............................. SEAL insulatedbox to reducethe otherwiseunpleasantnoise
level, and is run from a Variac to control its speedand
hence the blowing pressure.The light source (not
shown)is an automobileheadlightoperatedfrom a 6-v
storage battery. (The use of 60-cps ac producesan
MOUTHPIECE
/ r• •...... • undesirablemodulationin the light intensity.)
MiCRoPHONE
• LIGATURE
INSERTION • AIR •m PRESSURE
A 93l photomultipliertube in a separateenclosureis
mounted on the blowing chamberso as to receivethe
light passingthrough the reed opening.Operating the
Fro. 1. Apparatusfor artificially blowingthe clarinet
and observingthe reed motion. phototube at about 550-v total gave sufficientoutput
to operate the DuMont type 40l oscilloscope directly.
• C. S. McGinnis, H. Hawkins, and N. Sher, J. Acoust. Soc.Am. The anodeof the phototubewas operatedat about 60 v.
14, 228-237 (1943).
•'F. A. Saunders,J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 18, 395-401 (1946). This was biased out by means of a shielded series
a S. E. Parker, J. Acoust. Soc.Am. 19, 415-419 (1047). battery in the lead form the phototubeanode,so that
4R. N. Ghosh,J. Acoust. Soc.Am. 9, 255-264 (1938). theoscilloscope
cduldbeoperated
directly
coupled.
5 C. S. McGinnis and C. Gallagher,J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 12,
529-531 (1941). 0V. Ashoff,Akust. Z. 1, 77-93 (1936).
806
 CLARINET REED AND AIR COLUMN 807

When playing the clarinet, the player's lower lip is

foldedback over the teeth and pressedagainstthe reed
with the teeth oppositea point about a centimeterfrom
the tip of the reed. This position and the pressure
exertedon the reed are rather critical, as everybeginning
clarinetist knows; loud and unpleasantsquealsare the
result of improper position and pressure (improper
"embouchure"in the windplayer'sterminology).In the
presentequipment the teeth and lip are substitutedfor
by a brasswedgewith a piece of • in. thick foam
neopreneabout « in. sq cementedto it. The position
and pressureof the artificial "lip" are adjustable by
menasof screwsleading outside the blowing chamber;
the adjustmentfor the desiredtone is evenmorecritical
than for natural blowing. The tone obtained is fairly
good, being deficientbecausethe neoprene"lip" does
not have quite the sameelasticpropertiesas the human
lip; however,it is the only material tried so far that
Fig. 2. Vibrations for reed No. 8 for various notes of the scale.
works at all well. Materials can be tested for this pur- Blowing conditions indicated by L-loud, M-medium, and S-soft
poseby blowingthe clarinetby mouth with the material tones.Top horizontalline corresponds to reedaperturecompletely
in questionsubstitutingfor the lowerlip. Testedin this closed;bottom, to no pressuredifferenceacrossreed.
way, the foam neoprenegivesa tone somewhatharsher
in quality than the usual clarinet tone. at all; all parts of the reed that are in motion are seento
oscill•[tein the samemanner as the tip of the reed but
MOTION OF THE CLARINET REED with an amplitude that decreasesfrom a maximum at
the tip to zero at a point about 1.5 cm from the tip.
To interpretproperly the oscilloscopeobservationsof The remainingexposedportion of the reedbetweenthis
the phototubeoutput, it is important to know whether point and the ligature, about 2 cm, is at rest.
the motion of the reed is one dimensional or two dimen- Observations were made of reed motions for various
sional; that is, whether the tip of the reed moves as aconditions,includingdifferentreeds,differentnotes,and
unit with all points acrossit having the samephase,or different "lip" adjustments.When the desirednote was
whether phase differencesexist. In the latter case the soundingproperly, the oscilloscopetrace was photo-
tip of the reed would appear to undulate with waves graphed.The light sourcewas then momentarilyshut
movingtransverseto the longaxisof the reed.To deter- off by inserting a screenbetween it and the clarinet,
mine this point the photocellwas removedand a plate givinga horizontaltraceon the oscilloscope at a vertical
of Plexiglasplacedover the endof the blowingchamber. height corresponding to that for the reed completely
The instrument could then be sounded and the reed
closed;this trace was photographedon the samefilm.
velocities observed by means of a General Radio Finally the screenwasremovedand the air supplyshut
Strobotac. These observations showed that as far as
off, giving a third trace corresponding to the reed com-
could be seenvisually there were no transverseoscilla- pletely open, which was alsophotographed.
tionsof the reedunderproperconditions.Under certain Typical resultsare shownin Figs. 2-4. In eachpicture
maladjustments the loud squeals obtained showed the note played is shownin the upper left (the written
occasionally someevidenceof transversevibrations,but note is shown,the note soundedbeing one whole tone
underproperadjustmentthe endof the reedmoved'as _

a unit with no perceptiblephaseshift from one side to

the other. We can thus assume that the area of the reed
aperture as seen by the phototube is proportional to
the reeddisplacement,and that the oscilloscope
readings
of phototube output give the reed displacementas a
function of time. 9 8
Ashoffø describesquite complicated reed motions.
Accordingto his observationsthe reed oscillateswith
the fundamentalfrequencyof the clarinettoneover the
entireexposedlengthfrom the ligatureto the tip. Super-
imposedon this is a higherfrequencymotion extending
from about the point of lip contact to the tip, while the
tip itself vibrates at a still higher frequency. The Fro. 3. Vibrations for the same note using several different
presentwork doesnot showoscillationsof this character reedswith various"lip" adjustments.
808 JOHN BACKUS

progressively worsefrom left to right, that for the note

on the right having a considerable"buzz." It is appar-
ently undesirableto have too largea proportionof high
harmonics in the reed vibration.
s s It is interestingto comparethe above pictures ob-
1 5 tained with conventional cane reeds to those obtained
with a commercialplasticreed.Thesereedsare disdained
by good clarinetists. Figure 4 shows the vibration
patterns obtained. The reed usedwas one trademarked
"Sonic" which is assertedto be superiorby virtue of
having groundup caneincorporatedin the plastic.The
5
number under the "S" indicates the number of 16ths

Fro. 4. Vibrations of a plastic reed. S-'"Sonic" reed; figure of an inch of reed tip exposedbeyond the "lip." The
underneathindicatesnumberof 16thsof an inch of reed exposed two lower pictures are characteristicof this kind of
past "lip." reed; the quality is poor, having considerable"buzz"
giving what clarinetiststerm a "kazoo" note. There is
lower for the B•, clarinet used). The character of the a strong 6th or 7th harmonic present. An extreme case
tone in terms of loud, medium, or soft, is indicatedunder is the right-handpicture; this note is largely 6th or 7th
the note designationas L, M, S. Variousreedsusedwere harmonicand is of intolerablequality. It will be noted
numbered for identification; this number is shown on that thisreedduringits motionsometimes goespast the
the lowerright of the picture. The horizontalline at the normal open position; this is presumablybecausethe
top of the picture corresponds to the positionof the reed plasticmaterial haslessstiffnessand greatermassthan
completely closedand that at the bottom to the reed the cane material, so that inertial effectsare larger.
completelyopen.The subscriptnotation for the m•tsical
notes is that proposedby Young7; E3 is the lowest VIBRATIONS OF THE AIR COLUMN IN THE
written note for the clarinet. CLARINET MOUTHPIECE
Figure 2 showsthe vibration patterns for reed No. 8
for loud, medium,and soft tonesusingseveraldifferent To observethe air pressurevibrationsin the mouth-
notesof the scale.Other reedsshowpatterns basically piecea microphoneprobe was insertedat a point indi-
similarto these,and certaingeneralconclusions may be catedby © in Fig. 1, as closeto the tip of the reed as
drawn. First, it will be noted that for loud tones the possible.The probe accommodatedan Altec type 21
reed aperture is completelyclosedfor nearly half the BR-200 microphonein a type 165A preamplifierbase.
cycle,and practicallycompletelyopenfor the other half.
As the intensity decreasesthe closedtime diminishes,
and for soft tones the aperture does not closeat all
during the cycle. Second,the waveformis fairly com-
plex for loud tonesalthoughthe fundamentalpredomin-
ates; for soft tones the waveform is nearly sinusoidal.
Third, the waveformbecomessimpleras the frequency
is increased.
Figure 3 showsthe vibration waveformsfor the same
note when different reedsare used with various "lip"
adjustments.It will be noticed that in these the reed
aperturedoesnot closecompletely.Stroboscopic observ-
ation shows that in these cases the reed is slightly
warped and is not parallel to the "lay" of the mouth-
piece,so that in the closedpositiononly one sideof the
reed is in contact with the mouthpiece.The excessair
pressureis not sufficientto force the other side of the
reed into contact, so the aperture remains somewhat
open. The quality of the tone producedby the reed as
judged by the ear doesnot seemto dependon whether ..
or not the aperture closescompletely.
The effectof different "lip" adjustmentson the same Fro. 5. Simultaneous observations of reed vibrations and air
reed is shownin the lower three picturesof Fig. 3. The column vibrations in the clarinet mouthpiece. Lower trace, air
quality of the note producedas judgedby the ear gets pressurevariation, with top of trace correspondingto higher
pressure;upper trace, reed vibration. Reed closedposition given
by line tangent to peaks of air vibration trace. Reed motion
7 R. W. Young, J. Acoust. Soc.Am. 11, 134-139 (1939). inverted becauseof phaseshift in electronicswitch.
 CLARINET REED AND AIR COLUMN 809

The probechannelwas5 mm in diam and 6 mm long; In Fig. 5 the gain of the electricalsystemis the same
a checkof the microphoneplusprobeon an Altec type for all pictures. The amplitude of the air vibration for
12185 calibrator showedthe responseof the systemto the note Ea of reed3 as read from the oscilloscope corre-
be within 1 db of the responseof the microphonealone spondsto 166-db sound-pressure level for the loud tone
over its frequencyrange. and 160 db for the soft tone; for the note E4 the values
The cathode follower assembly was arranged to are 165 db and 158 db. The sound-pressure
level inside
projectthroughthe sideof theblowingchambersothat the clarinetthuschangesby some6-7 db in goingfrom
the microphone assemblyand the photocellassembly the soft tonesto the loud. A roughcheckwith a General
couldbe usedsimultaneously. The outputsof both were Radio sound-level meter shows that the sound as
fed into a DuMont type 185-A electronicswitchwhose radiated by the instrument varies about 24 db over the
output was fed into the oscillocsope.The switchwas same blowing range. This suggeststhat the increased
alteredsothat its switchingrate couldbe synchronized loudnessof the instrumenton harder blowingis not due
with the oscilloscopesweep.The vibrationsof both the to a much increasedsound-pressurelevel within the
reed and the air columnin the mouthpiececouldthenbe instrument,but is primarily due to the greater produc-
observed simultaneously.Tests with square waves tion of harmonicsin the louder tones. These higher
showed that the electronic switch did not alter the wave- frequency oscillationsradiate better from the small
forms transmitted through it in the frequency ranges openingsin the clarinet and their increasedproduction
used,andthat therewasno relativephaseshiftbetween is responsiblefor the increasein loudness.This question
the two systems. is being investigatedfurther.
The insertionof the microphoneaddsa small addi- From Figs. 2 and 3 it will be seenthat the maximum
tional volume to that of the mouthpiececavity. This openingof the reed for loud tonescorresponds approxi-
produces
a frequency
shiftdownward
of fromabout5 mately to the positionwith the air supply off, so that
to about20 centsdependingon the lengthof instrument the maximum open position when soundingoccursfor
used,but doesnot otherwise
affectthe playingperform- equal pressuresin the mouthpieceand in the blowing
ance of the instrument. chamber.The loud tonesare producedwith about 15 in.
Photographs weretakenasbeforeexceptthat thereed of water blowingpressure.This correspondsto a sound
openandreedclosed positionswerenotrecorded. Figure pressurelevel in the mouthpieceof 166 db for a square
5 is typical;the uppertraceis the reedvibration,the wave or 163 db for a sine wave, which checkswell with
lower the air column vibration. The traces •Vere set so the observed values.
that a line tangentto the peaksof the air columntrace If the microphoneis insertedin the blowingchamber
coincides with the reedclosedposition.The reedmotion when the clarinet is sounding,air pressurevibrations
traces are inverted as comparedwith the previous are measured which are about 30 db below those in the
figuresbecause of the 180øphaseshiftproduced by the clarinet mouthpiece.When the clarinet is played in the
electronic switch. usual manner, air pressurevibrations in the mouth
Figure5 showstwo tonessoundedon eachof two cavity measuredwith the microphoneare some 20-25
different reeds for loud, medium, and soft blowing db below those in the mouthpiece.This indicates that
conditions.These,togetherwith othersobserved,show the sizeand shapeof the blowingchamberor respiratory
the importantresultthat the reedis primarilystiffness tract and mouth are of no importancein tone produc-
controlledand in its openrange--not in contactwith tion in the clarinet, in agreement with Parkera and
the mouthpiece--itfollowsquite faithfullythe varia- contrary to the opinionof many clarinetists.
tionsin the mouthpiece air pressure.
The quarter-cycle Work is under way to study further the influenceof
phasedifference startedto existby Ghosh4is obviously the reed on the frequency and tone quality of the
not present.The smalldeviations of the reedmotion clarinet.
tracefrom the air pressuretracemay be due to (a)
phaseshiftin the probetube,(b) phaseshiftbetween ACKNOWLEDGMENT
the pressureat the reedtip and the pressure at the
probe,about1 in. distantdowntheair column, and(c) This work was supported by a grant from the
inertial effectsof the reed mass.The relative importance National Science Foundation, whose assistance is
of these has not been ascertained. gratefully acknowledged.