New woodwind instruments
Lewis R. Jones · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2001
Progress towards the development of woodwind instruments designed to play fluently in tuning systems other than 12-note equal temperament is described. The problems of closing many toneholes with only ten digits are outlined, and past solutions, depending chiefly on rod and lever keywork, are briefly reviewed. The alternative of largely keyless toneholes, as embodied in Jones and Armitage’s 19ET recorders (1999) is considered. The electromechanical means of tonehole closure introduced in Giles Brindley’s ‘‘logical bassoon’’ is taken as a point of departure for a range of woodwind instruments including flutes dividing the octave into as many as 36 steps, others of exceptionally deep pitch, and others, narrow but of great length which, by exploiting the higher harmonics of the air column can, without impossibly many toneholes, produce divisions of the octave into 72 or 96 steps. Softare mediates between practicable fingerings and at times complex patterns of tonehole movement. A scheme of fingering is proposed which is intended to enable a single player to learn to play in many alternative tuning systems while preserving as many essential parallels between fingering and sound as possible.