Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Backus InputImpedanceWoodwinds JASA1974
Backus InputImpedanceWoodwinds JASA1974
John Backus
Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 56, 1266 (1974); doi: 10.1121/1.1903418
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1903418
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/56/4
Published by the Acoustical Society of America
Input impedance of brass musical instruments—Comparison between experiment and numerical models
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 75, 241 (1984); https://doi.org/10.1121/1.390402
The clarinet: How blowing pressure, lip force, lip position and reed “hardness” affect pitch, sound level, and
spectrum
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 134, 2247 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4816538
Improved precision in measurements of acoustic impedance spectra using resonance-free calibration loads and
controlled error distribution
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 121, 1471 (2007); https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2434764
Equipment has been developedwhich will automatically plot the input impedancecurves of the
reed-excitedmusical instruments as a function of frequency. Sound from a regulated driver unit is
passedthrough a high acousticalimpedance into an adapter unit attached to the mouthpieceof the
instrument. This impedance is in the form of a capillary of annular cross section, and is designedto
have an approximately constant impedancemagnitude over the frequencyrange used. The
sound-pressureamplitude generated in the instrument is measuredby means of a microphone whose
output is applied to a chart recorder, so that a graph of input impedanceversusfrequencyis
obtained. Representativeimpedance curves were run for selected notes on the clarinet, oboe, bassoon,
and saxophone.Input impedancevalues range from 400 to 1600 cgs acousticohms for the various
instruments.For the low notes on the clarinet, the resonancefrequenciesare compressedin relation
to the harmonics of the fundamental mode, the higher resonanceshaving low frequenciesthan the
correspondingharmonics.For low notes on the bassoonand oboe, the situation is the opposite,the
resonancesbeing stretchedin relation to the harmonics.For high notes on the oboe and bassoon,the
frequencyof the blown tone may be considerablymore than a semitonebelow the frequencyof the
resonanceon which the instrument is operating.
1266 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 56, No. 4, October 1974 Copyright ¸ 1974 by the AcousticalSociety of America 1266
1267 J. Backus'Impedanceof reedwoodwinds 1267
VOLUME
DRIVER voltage e appearingacross the reactanceXc in series
SERIES
with the impedance Z and the source voltage E will be
IMPE•)ANCE
'• ,
e= +
AMPLIFIER
IPREAMPI e= (E/Z)(pc•'/wV) ,
where p is the air density, c the velocity of sound, 09
(2)
The arrangement shownin Fig. l(a) was used to try the mean radius of the annulus, D its thickness (small
various configurations and observe their frequency de-
comparedto R), and1 its length, its impedanceis given
by?
pendence. The series impedance to be tested was at-
tached to a driver unit (Altec 730C) whose outputwas Zx= (1/2vR)[12V/Ds+j(6/5)(wp/D)]l. (5)
kept constant by means of a monitoring microphone
(Altec 21 BR-180) attachedto a level regulator (General
Radio type 1569) which regulated the voltage supplied to
the driver by an audio oscillator and amplifier. The
series impedance was terminated in a small volume;
the sound amplitude produced in this volume was mea-
sured by a second microphone, the response microphone
O. 168 cm
(Altec 21 BR-150). The sound-pressure level in the
volume could then be plotted as a function of frequency
by the use of a level recorder which records the level
of the response microphone output. The recorder also
mechanically varies the frequency of the oscillator sup-
plying the driver. TUBE // x ROD
The equivalent electrical circuit for this acoustical FIG. 2. Configuration of an approximately frequency-independent
system is shownin Fig. l(b). The magnitude of the series impedance.
cm and diameter 0. 061 cm as a series impedance; it quantitatively with suitable alterations of the arrange-
obviously is far from frequency independent. In the fre- ment of Fig. l(a). The small volume terminating the
quency range of Fig. 3, the ratio of the tube-radius to series impedance is replaced by an adapter fitting the
the boundary-layer thickness 6v ranges from 2 to 10. particular type of instrument to be measured and which
As shown by the curves in Ref. 4, this is the region accommodates the response microphone. The level
where the transmission parameters are changing con- recorder is replaced by a chart recorder to plot the out-
siderably with frequency as compared to the low-fre- put voltage of the response microphone directly. With
these modifications, the series impedance supplies an
essentially constant acoustic current to the instrument
under measurement, and the output of the response
microphone will be proportional to the magnitude of the
instruments input impedance. The chart recorder then
gives a graph of input impedance versus frequency when
the oscillator frequency is swept through the desired
range.
closed end is •ø are shown by open circles; a curve has been drawn
through them to aid in comparison. Agreement is quite
r= tanhaxmax, (6)
good over most of the range from 150 to 2500 cps, the
where x is the distance of the minimum from the closed equipmentgiving readings some 10%low at the two ex-
end and a is the (small) attenuation constant. This con- tremes. Using the impedances measured and the cali-
stant is proportional to the square root of the frequency brations of the monitoring and response microphones,
f and inversely proportional to the radius a of the tube, we calculate the series impedance to have a magnitude
and measurements at a number of frequencies gave, for 2.4x 104ohms, whichchecksthe previouslyobtained
the brass tube used, values.
,a= a. O6xlO'•f•l•'/a . ' (7) The marks along the bottom of the chart of Fig. 5 are
This checks well with the results in the literature. •o,• the positions of the harmonics of the fundamental, made
by the circuit described in Ref. 1. In this, as in sub-
It may be shown that for a tube of length I and cross-sec-
sequent charts, the positions of the harmonics are shown
tional area Ao, the impedance at a resonance is given
by short vertical lines above the scale of harmonics.
by••-
The positions of the resonance peaks are shown by lines
Z= (pC/Ao)al, (8) belowthe bottomline of the char•tso aS to simplify
comparison of the resonance frequencies with the har-
provided al << 1. Using the value for a given above, we
find
monic frequencies. To estimate musical intervals on
the charts, we note that the space between two adjacent
Z= 4.30x 10S/(alf{/a), (9) vertical lines corresponds to 155 cents. The frequency
of the fundamental of the harmonic marker circuit is
in cgs acoustic ohms.
also given on the chart.
The values of Z calculated from Eq. 9 may now be
used to calibrate the equipment. The 102-cm tube was In Fig. 5, the peaks have been set to coincide with the
mounted in the adapter shown in Fig. 4. In this adapter, harmonics at the high-frequency end of the chart; the
the series impedance enters through a rubber plug which first few low-frequency peaks then deviate somewhat
projects into the tube a short distance; this is to com- from the harmonic frequencies because of the lowering
pensate for the extra volume added to the tube by the re- of the sound velocity in the tube at these frequencies due
sponsemicrophone(0.35 cma) and the channelleading to to viscosity. For a tube of radius a large compared to
it. Since the impedance of the tube at a given resonance the viscous boundary-layer thickness tSv, the velocity of
sound c' is •3
frequency is known from Eq. 9, it is possible to set the
driver input to the series impedance, as measured on c': c[1-•i'/a42]. (10)
the monitoring microphone, to give a full-scale chart
recorder reading as corresponding to any selected num- Here •' is the equivalentboundary-layerthicknessdue
ber of acoustic ohms. to bothviscosityandheat conduction,andis givenby•4
Figure 5 shows the impedance curve obtained for the
102-cm tube; full scale is 500 ohms. The impedances
at certain resonances, calculated from Eq. 8 above, (11b)
I 2 3 4 6 8 10 12
168.5 HZ HARMONIC NUMBER
II'iI,,,,•
ill,. il!l.11111i
I.u
OliL'
IMPEDANCE
)• sharp with respect to the sixth harmonic.
.::j
I 2 4 6 8 10 13 16 20
57.9 Hz HARMONIC NUMBER
FIG. 10. Impedance curve for the lowest note Bhl on the bassoon. Full scale is 1500 ohms.
,•,}IllFill
•,',!I!•
•
t,l,,2xl![i
1,,,•, i"i'""'•liiiii'i'
I' "11 •'i"•il i]
' •-i*•• ',:
ill, I :' :•:'-x
",,,,,,
•,,,, q,,•
• ilr•, ,,, i•
,,;,,,,,
,,,,,,•,:,,•,• •':•
'• '•""'
!i• ,,, ' ',
'"•-• •" ,, I;
] :• ' ,,, ,,
',li!
!l•!
',,.
I'd'
,ill
"•'
•H[
I ,i.•11i
•,
i,iJ
•)
z
z
o
• • o o
I I
•)OL
LU
.- o.
n-
uJ
z
o
Onobserving
theactualplayin•frequencies
asshown
on the charts, we note that not only does the bassoon
have a much wider flexibility on a given note than the
clarinet (over a semitone for some notes) but also that
the playing frequency gets progressively more and more
below the resonance frequency as the scale is ascended.
As seen in Fig. 12, for example, the playing frequen-
cies for notes in the higher register are generally more
than a semitone below the resonance frequencies. This
is a considerable discrepancy, so additional experiments
were done to check this matter, using the external exci-
tation method. An adapter was constructed on a bassoon
1 ß
bocal about 6 cm from the tip; a Briiel & Kjaer •-tn.
microphone(type4136) couldbe insertedinto this adaPt-
er so as to measure the pressure at this point. The in-
strument was fingered to a given note by inserting corks
into the appropriate holes and wedging down the appro-
priate keys. A playable bassoon reed was sealed along
its sides with flexible cement and inserted into a simple
artificial embouchure consisting of two pieces of foam
neoprene in an adjustable clamp. The reed was placed
on the bassoon,.blown to soundthe instrument, the
artificial embouchureadjustedto get the note approxi-
mately in tune (as a player would do), and the playing
frequency measured. A small loudspeaker energized
by an oscillator and amplifier was then placed near the
first open tone-holes to excite vibrations in the instru-
ment, and the re.sonance frequency for the fundamental
mode found by observing the response of the microphone
on the bocal as the frequency was varied. This was
done (a) with the reed (with its embouchure)in place and
its open end closed with a small piece of modeling clay;
(b) with the bassoonadaptershownin Fig. 9, havingthe
microphone in place and the hole for the series imped-
ance plugged; and (c) with the bocal tip closed by a cork.
The lowering in frequency between conditions (c) and
uJ (a) variedfrom imperceptiblefor the lowestnoteB• up
m
to a maximum of 90 cents for notes in the range F s to
•)
•.• z F 4. For condition (b) the lowering was up to 25 cents
less thanfor (a), so this muchof the abovediscrepan.cy
z
o can be ascribed to the fact that the bassoon adapter had
a volume somewhat less than that of the reed. The reed
volume, measured by sealing, weighing, filling with
water to the point of bocal insertion, and reweighing, is
0.7 cms. Assuminga frequencyloweringproportional
0 to volume, we can calculate the volume of the adapter
(using an average of the measurements) to be about
0.5 cms.
,• ;11!i•i !i . ,
?ri
I'••,
• ' •- •"-
i•1i
•' i•' i,,',•
....
".I•
iii:
'"'
IIT' ,I.
, ........ iii i
•I I :. ii I
i-i ,,,
•I , ii II !• i•iiil•illIll •1 ,,
III
•.1!•,,•ll•,!,lill
•,',• • 'l'
i,I
• , ,I,.
IIi•
.-il :-=• :
. •,I II.,,i!.1•.,,.•,,:.,.,•. •!•,,.•,
,. ,,'., I.' '!' :J' I!! i•: ,111I• ,;•',I•.I,il! ,•.. "J
, ,, ., ',
,, lJ,,
'1' ' III, ß ,,,., . ,, . :l•,.'! I I!1•i•II,'
ß ,•,,,.',
Ii '..,'.ii•
',• •11;
'' I ''
• .' ii •, [•liiii
-........... •I?,•
•-• .'.
;• __ ! ........................
J.Acoust.
Soc.Am.,Vol.56,No.4, October
1974
1279 J. Backus'Impedanceof reedwoodwinds 1279