The production of sound in musical instruments

Wind instruments are over twenty thousand years old, yet precise physical models that can predict their pitch and timbre are lacking. The main missing piece for adequate modelling is a physical understanding of the hydrodynamic processes in the mouthpiece. Other elements of the model, such as the acoustic problem of sound propagation, also require improvement if we are to reach adequate fidelity to our listening capacities.

In our research, we set out to produce a set of tools that can model the generation of music in wind instruments in all its facets, from player to listener. We are currently using both direct numerical simulations and tools from Global Instability Analysis to analyze how a recorder’s mouthpiece produces the hydrodynamical excitation which later becomes the notes we hear a player producing.