SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURE

The variable volume clarinet mouthpiece* concert and presentation

by René Caussé and Carol Robinson (*with support from Vandoren)

Scientific knowledge of the mechanisms and functioning of musical instruments is today, both advanced and exhaustive. The models are now numerous, and above all sufficiently complete for them to be the basis of instrument modifications when acoustic instruments no longer meet user’s new expectations. Even if this process is far removed from that of the traditional instrument maker, it promises complimentary potential.

Models, when translated numerically, can be simulated and thus used to generate sounds. In such a way, the resulting synthesis, referred to as physical modelling allows us to obtain not only virtual copies of existing sound structures, but in addition, to provide the artist with a multitude of new possibilities. Artists find themselves faced with a virtual workshop which permits them to construct their own instruments by manipulating the material and shape of vibrating structures or for example, by combining these structures.

Today, technological offerings are large and accessible. The possibilities in terms of speed of calculation, mechanics, the transduction of information treatment, and miniaturization, are such that it is possible to combine them with our scientific knowledge to realize true innovations in the field of instrument manufacture.

We will illustrate this presentation with examples of recent innovations made by the acoustic instrument team, such as the variable volume clarinet mouthpiece.

Fitted with this mouthpiece, the clarinet becomes a hybrid instrument capable of producing not only very precise microtonal intervals, but also glissandi, color changes and other unexpected effects. The musical possibilities of the mouthpiece will be demonstrated for Résonances with the participation of the composition class from the Geneva Conservatory of Music. Under the guidance of Emile Ellberger and Eric Gaudibert, the composers in the advanced cycle propose a brief concert of pieces written especially for this tuneable mouthpiece and the clarinet or the bass clarinet.