Structuring music in recorder playing: a hydrodynamical analysis of blowing control parameters
B. Fabre, Fabrice Guillard, Mike Solomon, F. Le Blanc, V Sidorenkov · 2010
For musical instruments producing sustained tones, the sound of the instrument can be interpreted as a sounding transposition of the player’s gesture over the duration of each to ne. By shaping individual tones, the player may create a musical structure such as a melody. The playing of wind instruments requires an expert control of one’s blowing. In the case of flutes and recorders, the player’s control can be e fficiently analyzed in the framework of the knowledge on sound production of flute-like instruments. The time evol ution of the hydrodynamical parameters that determine the sound production conveys the player’s intention. We pre sent analyses of the control exerted by a recorder player playing written musical excerpts, varying the performer’s musical engagement by means such as rewriting the score with a different time signature. The basic control parameters measured during playing are analyzed in terms of the player’s hydrodynamic jet of air. The different tones can th en be classified according to the time shaping of each tone. The structure emerging from this analysis is finally compare d to the written structure of the music. Results show that the same parameters that are used to produce the basic balance necessary for sound production are also finely tuned to shape the time structure of the playing, turning the sound into music.