ABSTRACT. On almost all lip-excited wind instruments it is possible for the player to sound a series of different
pitches corresponding to the different acoustic resonances of the air column inside the instrument.
The pitch intervals in this series depend on the bore profile of the instrument, which is usually
designed so that the acoustic resonance frequencies of the basic tube are close to being members of
a complete harmonic series. To obtain a chromatic scale over the compass of the instrument it is
necessary to sound pitches which bridge the gaps between the harmonics, and several stratagems
have been developed which allow this. The oldest method is to puncture the tube with side holes
which can be opened or closed by the fingers. A fifteenth century innovation was a sliding section
which allowed the tube length to be varied continuously. By the second decade of the nineteenth
century valves had been designed which permitted discrete additional sections of tubing to be added
to the basic bore. Some musical consequences of the science underlying these three approaches are
explored in this review.

ABSTRACT. Brass instrument players combine several parameters to control the sound emitted by their instrument. According to the statements of musicians, different ways to play the same note seems to exist, depending on the player's proficiency, formation and musical background. We would like to bring out these difference in a more measurable way.

In order to measure different control parameters used by the musician while playing, and monitor the reactions of the instruments, a set of sensors have been installed on a trumpet. Our experimental device allows in vivo simultaneous measurements of the mouth pressure (continuous and acoustic part), the pressure at the input of the instrument (mouthpiece), the phase of the motion of the musician's lips, the position of the trumpet valves, the force applied to the lips by the mouthpiece rim, the airflow through the instrument, and the radiated sound. Experiments are carried out with different musicians : simple musical tasks are performed and the sensors output are recorded. Different analysis highlight links between control parameters and oscillating variables. While some trends are shared by the different trumpet players recorded, quantitative analysis reveal different strategies according to the player. Repetability for each player is also investigated, and confirm some abilities of experienced players.

ABSTRACT. Selected transients of trumpet tone are documented using high-speed imaging and measuring of pressure in player’s mouth. Key features are described including phenomena that couldn’t be described without high sampling rate (“initial blow off” on soft tones, parameters of triple staccato, legato transients).

ABSTRACT. We report the lip motion, upstream and downstream pressures, and flow components as trombonists play the compliant and inertive loads produced by lipping up and down from B♭2. The bore impedance is measured immediately after playing. The amplitudes of its impedance peaks monotonically decrease with playing an initially dry instrument; we attribute this to losses involving water phases. For playing durations less than 10 seconds, the resonance frequencies decrease, attributed to a dominant effect of CO2. Over longer times, increasing humidity and slowly increasing temperature overcome the CO2 effect and raise the resonance frequencies. Notwithstanding these effects, the bore impedance is usually compliant at normal playing frequencies, and its magnitude is more than 10 times larger than the upstream impedance measured in the mouth. Consequently, the mouthpiece acoustic pressure lags behind the flow and is much larger than that in the mouth. At these frequencies, a significant and early component of flow is due to the longitudinal sweeping motion of the lips. Lipping up and down from B♭2, players could readily play over more than three semitones, a range centred approximately on the bore resonance, with their lips auto-oscillating with a compliant or inertive load downstream. The vertical (z) component of the upper lip oscillation, in phase with the inter-lip aperture, lags behind the forwards (x) component by less than 90° and its amplitude is at least 50% larger. This phase difference is reduced while lipping up. The phase of the mouthpiece pressure is closer to z while lipping up and to x while lipping down, but always lies between them. The measured phase relations are consistent with a simple lip model with a bending or swinging x mode whose resonant frequency is always below the playing frequency f0, and a compressive z mode whose resonance lies always above f0.

ABSTRACT. During glissando playing in the trombone the length of the approximately cylindrical slide section within the bore is altered while waves are propagating. Slide movements of 2 metres per second are not unusual. The simplest way to visualise the effect is in terms of the slide being represented by a moving reflector, resulting in a (small but measurable) Doppler shift in the wave coming from the mouthpiece before it arrives at the bell for instance. An additional effect is to be observed in terms of the volume of air within the instrument changing telescopically, leading to a localised change in DC pressure (and a resulting flow) which generates infrasound components within the bore and also impacts on the sound velocities for forward and backward going waves. Lastly there will be sections of bore with moving walls which could introduce additional mean flow effects and excitation of (mostly evanescent) transverse modes of vibration.

In this study experimental data is presented showing the pressures measured by microphones mounted in the mouthpiece, in the water key (in the slide section) and at the bell of a trombone while slide movements are performed. Some measurements were performed using a fixed excitation frequency provided by a loudspeaker mounted onto the mouthpiece. Moving the slide results in changes in both the amplitude and frequency of the signal being measured by microphones (in spite of the input signal being produced by the loudspeaker being fixed in frequency). Infrasound components were also detected inside the instrument bore. Frequency tracking of audio was combined with optical tracking of slide movement to provide evidence concerning the nature of the physics of wave propagation within the dynamically changing trombone bore and conclusions drawn concerning any implications for perception and synthesis.

ABSTRACT. Our motivation is to understand the pitch deviation in a wind instrument that is caused by the introduction of orally expired air into a wind instrument. The effect of air composition, temperature, pressure and humidity on the speed of sound in air has been well studied for meterological purposes, and in this paper, we apply this robust model for calculating the speed of sound accounting for interaction between the gases involved and use it to calculate the acoustic impedance peaks and observe the shifts in the fundamental frequency and higher harmonics. In these simulations, the air composition and physical properties of air are chosen such that it closely mirrors playing conditions; and the pitch shifts are compared against experimental observations found in literature.

ABSTRACT. This study focuses on the agreement between harmonicity criteria of the trumpet, calculated using either the resonance frequencies of the input impedances, or the playing frequencies of sounds produced by physical modeling (simulated sounds) or played by a musician (real sounds). In order to create different trumpets with different acoustical behavior, a variable depth mouthpiece was developed whose depth can be easily and continuously adjusted from “deep” to “shallow”. After a measurement of the input impedance of the trumpet with different mouthpiece depths, simulations by physical modeling were produced on different notes with the harmonic balance technique and the impedance as input. A musician also played the trumpets on different notes. Four fingerings were considered in the study. The influence of the depth of the mouthpiece on the trumpet harmonicity was investigated using different estimators based on the Equivalent Fundamental Pitch (EFP). For a given reference frequency (resonance for the impedance, or tuning note for the sounds), and a given fingering, the EFP calculates the difference in cents between the multiples of this reference and the resonances of the impedance (or the playable notes). Different criteria are proposed to aggregate all these EFP over the regimes and/or fingerings in order to provide an estimator of the trumpet harmonicity. For different mouthpiece depths, a comparison of the harmonicity criteria obtained with the impedance, the simulations, or the played notes by a musician, is proposed. The results show that the simulations by physical modeling can be a relevant alternative to the input impedance measurements to predict certain qualities of the instrument, opening the door to virtual acoustics for instrument makers.

ABSTRACT. Josef Šediva (Schediwa), a czech instrument maker, invented a family of brass instruments with a distinctive construction that allows a player to switch between waveguides to achieve brighter (trumpet-like) or softer (flugelhorn-like) tone. The case study presents the instrument housed in the Czech Museum of Music as a part of unique collection. In order to document this feature spectra and radiation characteristics are presented, as well as other general characteristics of brass instruments (profiles of the both horns, input impedance, etc.) and their comparison to present brass instruments. The acoustic documentation is supplemented by historical background and theses of a future wider study.

ABSTRACT. The advent of computer-powered diagnostic equipment and physical modeling techniques, resulted in a significantly increased understanding of the physics of brasswind instruments. Although the practice of engineering and optimization of brasswind instruments is supported by modern technology, it remains a procedure with a highly empirical character. Questions persist concerning how input impedance curves, material selection, manufacturing technology and aero-acoustical occurrences correlate with playing properties. Subsequently, a trial-and-error approach embedded in a framework of general accepted assumptions must bridge the gap between theory and practice. Although assumptions based on such observations are of a subjective nature, it can provide guidance for further scientific work and is therefore of significant importance.

This paper aims to shed some light on the subject by presenting the observations made during conception and manufacturing of prototypes, complemented by the results of systematic interviews of established brasswind instrument makers.

ABSTRACT. Narrow-bore instruments are commonly perceived to be brighter than wide-bore models of the same kind of instrument. This effect is closely related to the effect of the bore profile of a brass instrument on the potential for non-linear propagation of sound within the tube. This paper reports on recent experimental work and numerical simulations aimed at deriving a quantitative prediction of the effect on timbre of nonlinear spectral enrichment in a brass instrument from measurements of its bore. An 'enrichment' parameter derived from bore shape and size is proposed which is can be used to characterise types of brass instrument.

ABSTRACT. A time-domain numerical model of brass instrument sound production is proposed as a tool to predict their brassiness, defined as the rate of spectral enrichment with increasing dynamic level. It is based on generalized Burger’s equations dedicated to weakly nonlinear wave propagation in nonuniform ducts.

The relevance of the present tool is evaluated by carrying out simulations over distances longer than typical shock formation distances, and by doing preliminary simulations of periodic regimes in different brass bore geometries.

ABSTRACT. The acoustic oscillations of the internal air column of a wind instrument induce wall vibrations of the body. However, the importance of the influence of such vibrations on the produced sound is an open question. The case of the trombone bells is particular because of the small thickness of the wall and large diameter of the horn's extremity which favors the vibroacoustic coupling between the body's vibrations and the internal acoustical field.Experimental investigation of this vibroacoustic coupling is performed on a Courtois trombone. An experimental modal analysis of the bell is performed using a miniature impact hammer and a miniature triaxial accelerometer: bell modes are classified using their modal circumferencial index m. Most of the bell modeshapes are found to be non axisymetric. One of them (around 800Hz) is found to be axisymetric. The bell is placed inside a tank where the water level can be varied. Measurements of the acoustic input impedance of the duct and measurements of the mechanical mobility of the bell for different water levels show that the bell mechanical eigenfrequencies are significantly shifted by the fluid-loading. Small and repetable changes in the acoustic input impedance are also observed and show clearly the wall vibration effect.Modelling of such vibroacoustic coupling is performed using a plane wave representation of the internal acoustic field and a modal representation of the wall vibrations. This model allows us to compute the input acoustic impedance for different sets of bell eigenfrequencies and for different positions of the slide. The change of the input acoustic impedance by the wall vibrations is quantified when coincidence conditions between acoustical and structural modes are satisfied or not.

ABSTRACT. It has been shown that the bell vibrations of brass wind instruments can significantly affect the sound produced by the instrument, and over the past decade several theories have been proposed in attempts to explain how this is possible. All of the proposed theories can explain many of the observed effects, however, two aspects have been difficult to accurately predict: the broad-band response and the frequency dependence. Recently, Kausel, et al. have proposed a mechanism that may explain how the acoustic field inside the instrument can couple with the wall vibrations. We present the results of experimental investigations and compare them to predictions of this theory. The agreement between the predictions and the experimental results indicates that the proposed coupling mechanism can account for most of the observed phenomena.

ABSTRACT. The attack transients are very important in musical context. They influence the perception of the sound and they are a tool of musical interpretation. Despite that, there are only few studies on attack transients in flute-like instruments. The influence of the geometry and the control of the musician are not yet understand.

By measuring simultaneously the pressure control and the sound of a recorder played by a musician, it is possible to characterize the attacks produced by a recorder player in musical context. A first study has allowed us to determine the global characteristics of an attack transient of recorder: its typical duration, its harmonic content, etc. Because a trained musician may control the attacks to keep a strong homogeneity between all the tones, it is not easy to identify the features of the attack transient related to the instrument from those related to the player's technique. For example all the attacks obtained show a weak contribution of high harmonics, whereas the studies on organ pipes show that a sharper attack leads to an attack richer in high harmonics.

By asking a novice to play the same recorder, we analyze the differences between the characteristics of a ``controlled'' and an ``uncontrolled'' attack transient. It allows to identify which characteristics are controlled by the experienced player and to understand some techniques used to control the attack transients.

ABSTRACT. The object of this paper is the acoustical research of the Waveline Flute. For an overall length reduction of this special children instrument, an omega-shaped tube-joint instead of a straight tube is placed between the flute's head and the main tube. For this analysis the flute is alternately combined with four joint prototypes varying in bore. These different flute setups are compared using two measurement methods. The distinctions in intonation are determined by using an adapted Brass-Instrument-Analysis-System (BIAS). For a sound comparison an artificial embouchure system has been developed. High-speed video recordings of the emerging jet supported the design. The results of the obtained data indicate distinctive differences in the acoustical behaviour in terms of intonation, sound and response.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the nonlinear characteristics of the mouthpiece-reed system of a clarinet using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in a two dimensional domain. The mouthpiece has been investigated for cases of both a fixed reed and a moving reed, with the outlet of the mouthpiece being replaced by an absorbing boundary to thwart possible acoustic oscillations. The influence of the geometry of reed channel has been investigated. Numerical results are compared to the quasi-stationary model based on a simplified memoryless reed and the Bernoulli flow.

ABSTRACT. Because they rely on the harmonic series for all their tones, the trumpet and the trumpet marine were frequently invoked as case studies in early attempts to explain overtones. Marin Mersenne, was the first scholar to describe overtones in any detail, mentioning them initially in Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim (1623) and continuing to refine his thoughts on the subject in correspondence he carried on with other scientists. Mersenne convinced his colleagues that he could hear “little delicate sounds” (petits sons delicats) above the fundamental tone (son propre), but he could not explain how they were produced. In his Harmonie universelle (1636) Mersenne described overtones up to the sixth harmonic. He understood the similarities between “trumpet notes” and the tones produced by the trumpet marine, but he failed to recognize a relationship between these notes and overtones. Moreover, he ignored trumpet notes that did not conform to his theory of consonance. My paper reveals how later authors expanded on Mersenne’s work. John Wallis’ demonstration of nodes in vibrating strings (1677) strongly influenced Francis Robartes’ “Discourse on the Musical Notes of the Trumpet and the Trumpet Marine” (1692). Robartes (Roberts) did not set out to elucidate the harmonic series; his modest objective was to explain why the seventh, eleventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth notes of the trumpet are not in tune. He compared the “flageolet tones” of the trumpet marine with the notes of the trumpet and demonstrated mathematically that the four out-of-tune notes cannot be accommodated to just intonation. Without realizing the importance of his discovery, Robartes offered the most cogent demonstration of the harmonic series prior to that of Joseph Sauveur (1701).

ABSTRACT. Musical scores and historic writings from Claudio Monteverdi’s Orpheo to Ernst Johann Altenburg’s treaties mention that mutes of the baroque era raised the pitch of the trumpet by a whole tone, while playing experience with surviving trumpet mutes show a rise in pitch of only a semitone. This conundrum remains unsolved. One of the presenters, Robert Pyle, aimed at an explanation in a computer-generated model (see Historic Brass Society Journal 1991). His theory was that the shape of conical Renaissance trumpet bells with their wide throats allowed the same mute to be inserted further into the bell, hence shortening the air-column length more than in later baroque trumpets with narrower throat and wider final flare. His mathematical computation was based on measurements of trumpets by Hanns Hainlein from 1632 and Johann Leonhard Ehe from 1746. Pyle concluded that although the mute indeed raised the pitch by approximately a semitone in the Ehe trumpet, it was more than that but less than a whole tone in the Hainlein. The computation therefore did not fully explain the phenomenon and therefore experimental measurements were desirable. In this paper we will use data from actual acoustical measurements of three late eighteenth-century historic trumpet mutes, formerly associated with trumpets by the Viennese maker Anton Kerner (1726–1806), now in the Utley Collection at the National Music Museum. These mutes will be measured with trumpets by Johann Leonhard Ehe II and III (ca. 1710 and 1730) and a reproduction of a trumpet by Hanns Hainlein from 1632 in the same collection. In addition we will discuss the acoustical behavior of a differently-shaped whole-tone mute developed by Ralph Bryant for 1632-Hainlein-trumpet copies and its possible historical relevance.

ABSTRACT. The main-question with regard to early trumpet mutes concerns their transposing interval: Do they raise the pitch by a half-step or a whole step? Modern reference books offer the unsatisfactory answer that both transpositions are possible. Surviving mutes raise the pitch by a half-step, but theoretical and musical sources from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries specify a whole step. I began my research by comparing surviving mutes, many of which were tested acoustically by Hannes Vereecke with original trumpets, using the Brass Instrument Analyzing System (BIAS). No mute could be found that raised the instrument’s pitch by a whole step, so the research was abandoned. In an effort to solve this problem I read the relevant treatises again, comparing them with music for muted trumpets and evaluating this information in light of performance-practices of the time. The most important consideration here is the necessity for trumpeters to move from Chorton to Cammerton by exchanging bows of different sizes, and also to adjust the mutes when they are used with different bows in order to play in tune in several different keys. It can be shown that upward transposition of a whole tone is the best solution for all situations. All surviving mutes can be used for transposing up a whole step by removing a half-tone-bow (mute minus halftone-bow = two half-steps = whole step up). The variable difference between Chorton and Cammerton of a half-step to a minor third always accommodates this procedure. Many of the remarks on mutes on Altenburg’s Versuch (1795) are incorrect; perhaps he simply copied his information from earlier books. In any case, it appears that a mute for upward transposition by a whole step did not exist during the heyday of the natural trumpet.

ABSTRACT. Viennese trumpeter Anton Weidinger (1766–1852) was the first to develop a fully chromatic trumpet in the guise of his revolutionary keyed instrument, and as such stands as a pivotal figure bridging the gap between the natural trumpet and the modern valve trumpet. The narrative of his connections with his “close friend” Joseph Haydn before the composition of the 1796 Trumpet Concerto (based purely on a family anecdote dating to 1907) and of the invention itself (especially that a functional prototype existed in 1796) do not, however, stand up to close scrutiny. The curious delay between Haydn’s composition and its 1800 premiere combined with the chronological inconsistencies between Weidinger’s arrival in Vienna in 1792 and Haydn’s absences during his two London journeys (in 1792–93 and 1794–96) are significant irregularities that have been overlooked in the scholarly literature.

My paper will use surviving works for Weidinger’s keyed trumpet by Leopold Koželuch (1798) and Joseph Weigl, Jr. (1799) together with concert reviews and other surviving biographical details to refine the chronology of events that transpired as the chromatic trumpet finally emerged. Replacing the oft-repeated “close friend” narrative, I will make the case that Weigl, Haydn’s godson and a composer closely associated with the same Viennese theatres as Weidinger, was potentially the figure who convinced Haydn to undertake the composition. I will argue that when Haydn wrote his Trumpet Concerto in 1796 he had little direct knowledge of Weidinger’s invention and that the instrument itself was not developed to the point of being capable of playing the work publicly until ca. 1800. This indicates that Haydn composed a work for an idealized chromatic trumpet not yet in existence and that the work was not tailor-made to be idiomatic to Weidinger’s invention.

ABSTRACT. Vienna Talk 2015. Organology Session

The keyed trumpet is the instrument type from the trumpet’s transitional era (1750–1850) that has hitherto been best explored (for examples see [1]–[4]). The reason for this wealth of research is the popularity of the trumpet concertos of Haydn and Hummel, both originally composed for Anton Weidinger’s keyed trumpet. Statistically, the extant sources draw a contrary picture, however. Weidinger rarely played these concertos and did not pass them on to other players. In fact, we have fewer extant sources for the keyed trumpet (methods, compositions and instruments) than for the other trumpet types such as the invention, stopped and slide trumpets, or for the keyed bugle or ophicleide. Two sources have hitherto remained unknown to scholars, however. They date from the end of the keyed trumpet’s use in musical practice (before its 1970s revival) and are the focus of this paper: a nine-keyed trumpet and a 123-page method. The nine-keyed trumpet is signed “Carl Gottl[ob]. Schuster in Neukirchen” and is today held by the Burri Collection in Berne. No other extant trumpet has nine or more keys. Its key touchpieces are organized in two levels, after the manner of a keyboard. The 123-page “Metodo e Studio” for the keyed trumpet was written by the Italian brass player Giuseppe Pignieri. It addresses an unknown type of four-keyed trumpet and includes a large number of studies in all keys. Copies are held by the Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica at Milan. They are handwritten by a “copisteria” in Naples. These sources on the one hand serve to underline the basic imperfection of the keyed trumpet, but on the other hand they demonstrate that as late as up to ca. 1840 some musicians and instrument makers believed that innovation might still help to realize the potential of the keyed trumpet.

[1] Dahlqvist, R., The Keyed Trumpet and Its Greatest Virtuoso, Anton Weidinger, The Brass Press, Nashville, 1975. [2] Anzenberger, F., “Method Books for Keyed Trumpet in the 19th Century: An Annotated Bibliography”, Historic Brass Society Journal 6, 1994, pp. 1–10. [3] Klaus, S.K., “The Keyed Trumpet”, Trumpets and other High Brass, vol. 2, Vermillion, 2013, pp. 158–191. [4] Bacciagaluppi, C., Skamletz, M., editors, Romantic Brass Symposium 1, Proceedings, Bern, 2015 (in press). Papers concerning the keyed trumpet by Dahlqvist, Klaus, Tarr, Egger, Kováts, Rouček, Callmar and v. Steiger.

ABSTRACT. The moisture generated in historical wind instruments during musical performances poses a serious threat to their long-term preservation. The potential damage impact varies greatly depending on the material. While the effects of humidity fluctuations caused by playing had previously been analysed in woodwind instruments [1], similar research on brass instruments had not yet been conducted. This study aims to gauge the processes and consequences occurring inside regularly played historic brass instruments as well as to provide suggestions for suitable preventive measures in order to minimise possible damage. The study took place within the frame of the interdisciplinary research project "Brass instruments of the 19th and early 20th centuries between long-term conservation and use in historically informed performance practice" by the Swiss Nationalfonds. The project is a collaboration between the Bern University of Arts, the Swiss National Museum, the ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute Villigen. Approximately 100-years-old brass instruments, later used in historically informed performances of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps [2], were deeply investigated. Based on temperature and humidity measurements, the climatic conditions were assessed before, during and after playing of different historical brass instruments, ranging in scale length from the trumpet to the tuba. It could be established that the instruments’ internal relative humidity reached very high levels after just a few minutes playing and that these values decreased only very slowly afterwards, despite emptying the tuning slides, which is common practice for musicians. Regularly played brass instruments have therefore a very high, permanent level of internal relative humidity which consequently increases the risk of metal corrosion. Amongst other things, the concept of preventive conservation included tests on various greases and oils in order to access their suitability for conservation. But the main task aimed at devising a simple drying method easy to apply daily by musicians. Climatic measurements showed that the moisture levels inside the instruments can be reduced within short time using simple fans (figure 1). The efficiency of this preventive conservation protocol is tested by a long-term survey. All instruments are analysed by non-destructive methods at different times in order to evaluate the progression of their corrosion state [3].

ABSTRACT. An increasing interest is being given to the implementation of art and science documenting strategies, essential to the safe-guarding and memory keeping of a human patrimony which history and even recent occurrences have proved to be very fragile and vulnerable. Consistency, uniformity, and objectivity, are necessary factors for the construction of a reliable documenting system. For an effective communication, a clear methodology used in the description of an object or of a landscape consequently helps the reader to immediately recognize the item or geographic features, and in most cases facilitates their reproduction. The easily accessible and non-electrical techniques and equipment used to identify a given object or natural sites, related or unrelated, combined or disperse, are associated with technological evolution on both universal and specific schemes, here brought to discussion. These may be used in both cataloguing a limited collection and in the construction of a general database of musical instruments, iconography, and natural locations with a relevant human sound-making role. To use the universal measurement procedure is especially effective in the case of objects with irregular contours, such as percussion instruments made with seeds, odd shaped ocarinas, or large sized rocks, as examples. The specific measurements are valuable for those seeking further details and expert information on features particular to each item. In this paper we shall present the methodologies used in our work, in our efforts to better understand the sound patrimony and to record the obtained information in a clear uniform system, seeking to contribute to the share of knowledge and preservation of a significant part of our cultural and scientific heritage.

ABSTRACT. Well known for his piano and harp actions, Sébastien Érard (1752-1831) also worked more than thirty years on the development of a new pipe organ on which it was possible to express musical dynamics. Achieved shortly before Érard’s death, this ingenious mechanism never really had the chance to be used. The most important instrument of the kind was built in Paris in 1829 for the King’s chapel but was badly damaged during the revolutionary events of July 1830. Rebuilt in 1854 in the Castel of Tuileries, it was destroyed when the building was set on fire in May 1871. Apart this organ, it was commonly believed that two other instruments were built during Érard’s life but their becoming was not clearly established until today. The orgue expressif of Gabriel Joseph Grenié (1756-1837) is also mainly known from literature. Pioneer in the use of free reed, Grenié patented in 1810 an expressive instrument in which reeds were laid out in resonators. His system would be developed by his apprentice Théodore Achille Müller (1801-1871) until the 1860’s, supplanted by Debain’s and Alexandre’s harmoniums in the mid-19th century. As well as Érard’s organs, none instrument from Grenié seemed to have survived. This paper will examine Erard and Grenié’s systems, very different in their approach of the same purpose. The story of the built organs by these makers will be retraced up to the present day.

ABSTRACT. The irruption of the valve cornet in the music world of the first half of the nineteenth century has been a milestone in the brass instruments history and is considered by modern scholars to have influenced the technical evolution of the trumpet. But its etymology, its social connotations, and its tone were hardly compatible with the noble character of the trumpet. While finding a place in many orchestras thanks to its playing capabilities, the cornet became the target of some authors who complained about its use as a substitute to the trumpet. In the third quarter of the 19th century, the Belgian maker, acoustician, organologist and museum curator, Victor-Charles Mahillon also feared the imminent extinction of the trumpet in symphony orchestras. That’s why he took “strong measures” – as he said in his famous Éléments d’acoustique musicale & instrumentale (1874) – to depart from the cornet timbre and to reinstate the trumpet as an important brass orchestral and solo instrument. This paper will detail the strategies used by Mahillon to reach his goal, and the process that led him to develop – like other brass makers of his time – new forms of trumpets, from hybrids between cornet and trumpet to still higher-pitched instruments.

ABSTRACT. In previous publications, we have first identified the vibrating modes of a cello tailpiece under string tension on a dead rig (Viennatalk' 2010 ), using hammer and accelerometer and George Stoppani's softwares and then its behaviour on a cello. We compared different measurement methods and measured the variability of wood choices on vibration modes and frequencies (2011 - 2012). The adjusted position of the tailpiece has also been explored, by varying the “after-length”, i.e. the distance of the tailpiece to the bridge which leaves a small length of vibrating string (2013). We showed that, even if it is less mentioned by luthiers and musicians, the distance of the attachment at the bottom of the instruments has more influence on the modes and on the sound than the "afterlength". Our study took a more historical path to identify the trends and theories on this “after-length” (2014). Studying a few 19th century texts mentioning its role, we showed that the "afterlenth", often discussed as an adjusting parameter of the sound, became an issue especially when the industrialization process in Markneukirchen enhanced the standardization of its length, with the consequence of a loss of experience on the violin makers' part, who stopped altogether making the tailpieces themselves. In this work, we study the changes of tailpieces at the end of the 17th century, implied by the replacement of pure gut strings (extremely thick in the lower registers) with the new wounded strings. The Musée de la musique keeps in its collection a few tailpieces of the 17th and 18th century assigned to Stradivari, who lived through his life span these important technical changes. The different choices of wood, the joints of different pieces, carved out wood, different types of inlays, ebony veneer, show the many techniques used by the makers to control the weight, to reinforce in one direction or another, to soften or harden the spring response of the piece. We aim to characterize by modal analysis these different models and compare their behaviour on the dead rig under the string tension, as well as on an instrument. We compare acoustical measurements and modal behaviour of copies of different historical tailpieces, chosen for the fact that they show the different stages in historical set up at a time of transformation of the lower register instruments of the violin family.

ABSTRACT. Projection is often cited as a criterion contributing the the quality of a "good" violin, especially by soloists. However, it is one of the most intriguing criteria: soloists seem (at least some of them) to be able to evaluate the projecton of their instrument at the back of the room while hearing it under their ear; players claim that some instruments can be loud under the ear but without projecting well; projection may be one of the criteria that distinguish great Old Italian violins from their newer counterparts. A series of listening experiments have therefore being conducted to investigate this property and understand better the concept of projection. These experiments consisted in comparing pairs of violins, either live or through recordings, either solo or with orchestral accompaniment. Pairs of violins were usually constituted by one Old Italian and one new violin. Listeners had to evaluate the relative projection as well as some other properties like richness, loudness and brigthness to search for correlations between projection and other properties. A compilation of the results of these different experiments will be presented at the conference. In addition, listeners from one of the main live experiments had to answer the question "What is your definition of  projection , i.e. the one you used to evaluate the different violins?". A linguistic analysis was conducted on the 37 answers collected and revealed a large diversity (lexical variation) in the linguisitc expression of projection which contrasts with the large consensus on the different semantic properties which characterise the concept, namely "the capacity of an instrument to produce a powerful, clear, rich in harmonics sound, which carries across the room, not only in solo but above the orchestra too".

ABSTRACT. Measurements were conducted on three historic pianos by Johann Baptist Streicher: one from 1836, and two from 1851 (with two different piano actions). Another series of measurements was performed on a copy of a typical 1800/05 piano by Nanette Streicher, made by Gert Hecher. These measurements were focused on the vibrations of strings and soundboard, and on the sound pressure, for isolated notes with different striking forces. Other data were collected, relative to the geometry and design of the soundboard, and on the string scaling, for each piano. The ultimate objective of this campaign is to establish links between physical parameters of the pianos and their tone quality. To achieve this, the method consists first to derive the appropriate parameters from time and spectral analysis of the various measured signals, in conjuction with the geometrical and material data. In some case, these last data are not available and some realistic assumptions must be made. In a second step, simulations of some piano tones relative to the four instruments are conducted and compared to the original ones. These simulations are made with the help of a numerical model previously developed by Juliette Chabassier. The presentation will start with a short history of the measured pianos. In a second part, preliminary results of measurements and comparisons with simulations will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. Modartt supports the KIViR (Keyboard Instruments Virtual Restoration) cultural project which we believe ``bridges a gap'' between physics based synthesis, reconstruction of period instruments and musical practice on a controller.

The usual way of bringing historical keyboard instruments back to life consists in restoring them properly, by repairing structure components like soundboard, pinblock, frame, or by replacing worn parts like strings, hammers or other fragile elements made of felt or skin, which fall into disrepair along time. However safeguarding great historical valued instruments' manufacturing can be a priority. Besides, it may be risky to put ancient instruments under playing condition. Sometimes only some of the notes are restored. In both situations, it impossible to play music on such instruments.

Digital restoration is a new experimental and innovating technology which attempts to solve the above mentioned problem. By the use of the mathematical and physical model Pianoteq, a virtual copy of the period instrument is reconstructed and calibrated from a detailed physical description and from the existing notes which sound correctly, after what the missing notes are reconstructed by the model. These virtual copies can then be numerically tuned and voiced in order to correct some defects issued from recording, tuning or regulation difficulties.

It is therefore now possible to bring an historical instrument back to life, while keeping the major part untouched at its original state. The collection does not only serve as a maintainable testimony of the past, with playable devices in museums available to the public, but also brings ancient sounds into the Pianoteq equipped computer of any musician or composer worldwide.

In this talk we will present and play a selection of instruments hosted by the museums Schloss Kremsegg, Kremsmünster, Austria and Handelhaus, Halle, Germany, among piano predecessors (clavichord, cimbalom, harpsichord…), fortepianos and historical pianos.