Dr. Arthur H. Benade of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who is doing considerable practical research in woodwind acoustics, has recently sent me some materials of great interest to double reed players and instrument designers. Among many other related matters discussed are: 1) conically shaped woodwinds and the nature of their sound production, 2) the importance of the size of the interior cavity or air space between the blades of a double reed in relation to the mouthpipe (be it staple as with oboe, or bocal as in cor anglais and bassoon) and in relation to a specific instrument (proportion of the bore's cone), and 3) a clearly documented discussion of the relationships between tone color and loudness, both of which he finds are dominated by the first 3 or 4 partials. The Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Walter E. Worman, who is now with Baldwin Pianos in Cincinnati, "Nonlinear Selfsustained Oscillations of Medium Amplitude in Clarinet-like Systems", provided the scientific underpinning to the practical and more musicianly improvements to woodwind instruments carried out in Cleveland and elsewhere. Also, an important Master's thesis by Michel Chotteau, "The Iso-Spectrum Clarinet", describing tone color and acoustical parameters of a special clarinet designed by Mr. Chotteau, has revealed new implications which have been applied to all the cone woodwinds, the brasses and currently the flute family.
I do not pretend to be an expert in physics or musical acoustics, but I find Dr. Benade's statements clearly understandable and of such significance that I highly recommend them to anyone seriously interested in the how and why of tone production and to all who are watching for improvements in woodwind instruments.
Dr. Benade will mail copies of his papers upon request, and Dr. Worman's and Mr. Chotteau's theses are available at cost of duplication. The titles of Dr. Benade's papers are: 1) "Sound Transmission and Sound Spectrum Relations in the Perception of Timbre and Loudness" and 2) "On the Tone and Response of Wind Instruments From an Acoustical Standpoint, March 1972". (Dr. A.H. Benade, Dept. of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106).