On the Relative Influence of even and odd harmonics in Clarinet Timbre

The work presented here is part of a larger project directed toward a better understanding of the influence of timbre variations upon musical expressiveness. To address such an issue, we have limited our study to the relationship between the physics and playing of the clarinet, and the generated timbre. This reduction of the problem is justified by the fact that the clarinet is a physically well understood instrument, leading to an efficient synthesis model which can be run in real-time. Such a physical knowledge is of great importance since it allows the design of specific timbre descriptors adapted to this instrument and points out the most important control parameters the musician can act on. After a brief description of the physics of the clarinet, we show how specific timbre descriptors can be derived from classical ones and how the control of the instrument acts on the perceived sound.