Objective and subjective characterization of saxophone reeds

The subjective quality of single cane reeds used for saxophone or clarinet may be very different from a reed to another although reeds present the same shape and the same strength. In this work, we propose to compare three approaches for the characterization of reeds properties. The first approach consists in measuring the reed mechanical response (“in vitro” measurement) by means of a specific bench which gives equivalent dynamic parameters (mass, damping, stiffness) of the first vibration mode. The second approach deals with the measurement of playing parameters “in vivo“, using specific sensors mounted on the instrument mouthpiece. These measurements provide specific parameters in playing condition, such as the threshold pressure or the spectral centroid of the sounds. Finally, subjective tests are performed with a musician in order to assess the reeds according to subjective criteria, characteristic of the perceived quality. Different reeds chosen for their subjective differences (rather difficult and dark, medium, rather easy and bright) are characterized by the three methods. First results show that correlations can be established between “in vivo” measurements and subjective assessments. Page 1/32 ha l-0 07 82 94 9, v er si on 2 31 J an 2 01 3 Table of