Woodwind Instruments

«Όψεις της στρατιωτικής μουσικής στην Ελλάδα: φλάουτα και φλαουτίστες στα στρατιωτικά μουσικά σύνολα της Αθήνας κατά την Οθωνική βασιλεία (1832-1862)»

Το δοκίμιο πραγματεύεται ιστορικά και οργανολογικά ζητήματα σχετικά με την παρουσία του φλάουτου στις στρατιωτικές μπάντες πνευστών της Αθήνας και αναφορικά με τη δραστηριότητα φλαουτιστών στα σύνολα αυτά κατά την Οθωνική περίοδο (1832-1862). Οι συνθήκες εισόδου του φλάουτου στα στρατιωτικά σύνολα και τα είδη φλάουτων που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν σε συνάρτηση και με ποικίλες επιρροές από
το εξωτερικό είναι οι δυο άξονες της ανακοίνωσης.
Κατόπιν εκτενούς επιτόπιας έρευνας σε στρατιωτικά αρχεία της εν λόγω περιόδου, η γράφουσα συνέλεξε πλήθος πρωτογενών τεκμηρίων που αφορούν αφενός στα εμπλεκόμενα στην οργάνωση και διεύθυνση των στρατιωτικών μουσικών συνόλων πρόσωπα, αφετέρου στα χρησιμοποιούμενα φλάουτα στα στρατιωτικά μουσικά σύνολα και στο μουσικό υλικό (πάρτες και παρτιτούρες) για μπάντα. Μέσα από τη σύνθεση των πληροφοριών που επιλέχθηκαν, αποδελτιώθηκαν και αξιοποιήθηκαν από το ογκώδες αρχειακό και σε συνδυασμό με το μουσικό υλικό, άγνωστες έως τώρα πτυχές και αθέατες μικρο-ιστορίες
της στρατιωτικής μουσικής ζωής και πράξης στη νεοσύστατη ελληνική πρωτεύουσα «βγαίνουν» από τη λήθη, όπου βρίσκονταν για περίπου δύο αιώνες, συνιστώντας με τον τρόπο αυτό τις απαρχές της ιστορίας του φλάουτου στο νεοελληνικό βασίλειο.

[English title & summary]
“Aspects of the Military Music Life in Greece: Flutes and Flutists in the Athenian Military Bands During the Ottonian Period (1832-1862)”

The subject of the article is the presence and the activity of the flutists coming from the Hellenic region and from abroad, who worked at the military bands during the Ottonian Period (1832-1862), as well as the instruments, flutes and piccolo flutes, that they used. An extensive on-the-spot research took place in two eminent archival organisations in
Athens, which host a wealth of the local cultural and musical heritage of the 19 th century: the State General Archives and the Historic Musical Archive of the Hellenic Army General Staff.
Primary documents concerning the entry and the presence of the flute and of the flutists in Athena came out of oblivion, where they had been for about two centuries. Letters of the income and outcome military correspondence, other application forms with administrative and musical content, music parts for flute and piccolo, catalogues with a wide spectrum of flutes and piccolos are only some of the primary documents
that was collected, studied, classified, indexed and used to draw conclusions about the beginning of the history of the flute in Athens. Through the synthesis of information, it is aimed to highlighting unseen aspects and micro-histories of the Athenian musical life and education in the Ottonian Period, focusing on the flute. Finally, the main pursuit is the contribution of this research as a mosaic to the broader Modern-Greek music historiography.

The Ehrenfeld Collection, a distinguished collection of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century flutes, has recently been donated to the Rijksmuseum. Herman Ehrenfeld (1896-1983), a prominent flautist with the Utrecht Orchestra and a pioneer in early music, meticulously assembled this remarkable collection during the 1950s and 1960s. To ensure its enduring legacy, his widow established a foundation after his passing to safeguard the collection from dispersal. The collection was further enriched by additional 19th-century flutes collected by harpsichord maker Willem Kroesbergen, who has been a dedicated board member since the foundation's inception. After the collection was relocated from Utrecht to Bussum, Ton Koopman served as its curator for several years. On 28 August 2023, the Ehrenfeld Foundation transferred the flute collection to the Rijksmuseum, ensuring its conservation and broad accessibility for future generations. Among the many remarkable pieces in the collection is a three-joint flute made by Richard Haka.

De worstfagot Muziekschatten in het Rijksmuseum De ranket behoort tot de fagotfamilie en werd gebruikt in de late renaissance en barok. Het instrument bestaat uit een compacte houten cilinder met een slangvormige boring. De vroegst gedocumenteerde bron is een zestiende-eeuwse miniatuur van de Beierse hofkapel in München rond 1570. We zien componist Orlando di Lasso omringd door een zangers en instrumentalisten, waarvan er één ranket speelt.

This paper presents the concept of "scientific concerts" developed at Le Mans University by two acoustics teachers-researchers and professional musicians, with the collaboration of three professional musicians. This project was born in 2009 and aims to introduce the basic concepts of acoustics by mixing science and arts. The originality and core principle of a scientific concert is to combine projected animations and spoken explanations with real-time experiments and demonstrations that are being given and played by both physicists and musicians. Learning is also eased by alternating musical themes and scientific content. Two different shows have been developed and given either in high schools, in popular science events or in concerts halls welcoming teenagers or general audience. The first show deals with the three main characteristics of a sound (intensity, pitch, timbre), while the second introduces the physics of musical instruments using the principles of elemental resonators like ducts and strings. The presentation will describe the science-to-music back-and-forth process that has been followed so as to achieve this project, including examples of experiments and auditory demonstrations. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the concerts given in France and Canada will be finally provided.

Computational optimization algorithms coupled with acoustic models of wind instruments provide instrument makers with an opportunity to explore new designs. Specifically, they enable the automatic discovery of geometries exhibiting desired resonance characteristics. In this paper, the design optimization of woodwind instruments with complex geometrical features (e.g., non-cylindrical bore profile and side holes with various radii and chimney heights) is investigated. Optimal geometric designs are searched so that their acoustic input impedance has peaks with specific target frequencies and amplitudes. However, woodwind instruments exhibit complex input impedance whose features, such as resonances, might have non-smooth evolution with respect to design variables, thus hampering gradient-based optimization. For this reason, this paper introduces new formulations of the impedance characteristics (resonance frequencies and amplitudes) using a regularized unwrapped angle of the reflection function. The approach is applied to an illustrative instrument subjected to geometric constraints similar to the ones encountered by manufacturers (a keyless pentatonic clarinet with two-registers). Three optimization problems are considered, demonstrating a strategy to simultaneously adjust several impedance characteristics on all fingerings.

Expressive content of performed musical sounds involves the behavior of a wide range of parameters. Timbre dynamics can be responsible for much of the perceived expressiveness of long-note phrases played on wind and bowed instruments. In this paper, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) is used to represent dimensions of spectral dynamics, in order to reveal intentional expressive timbre changes within a gesture realization in a musical performance on the clarinet. Amplitude and frequency time-varying curves of the ...

This project attempts to assess and predict the future of the bassoon in Australia. This must be contextualised within the future of classical music in general. Classical music has a long history, its antecedents stemming from the liturgical and secular music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The Classical and Romantic periods Challenges/Features: accents on offbeats and broad dynamic ranges. Other: available for other solo instruments including clarinet, oboe, flute and saxophone.

ՎԱԼԵՆՏԻՆ ԹՈՎՄԱՍՅԱՆ
Փայտյա, պղնձյա փողային և հարվածային գործիքների կատարողական արվեստի պատմություն
Valentine Tovmassian
Yerevan, AM
Was born on December 17, 1937. Lecturer on "History of Wind Instruments Performing Art" and "Methodology of Wind Instruments Performing Art" at the Armenian State Pedagogical Institute (1978 -1989) and since 1992 at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. 1977 - 2006 Observer, reviewer and senior editor at the Armenian National Radio Company's Music Department, authoring more than 4,000 radio programs. He also made 120 radio programs for Moscow's Ostankino Radio and 250, for VEM Radio in Yerevan. Since 2004 Head of Publishing Department of the Yerevan State Conservatory, Editor of the Musician newspaper and the Conservatory's collection of educational and methodological articles. Has published over 1000 scientific, analytical, critical articles and reviews and participated in national and international scientific conferences. Member of the Journalists Union of Armenia since 1981, Musical Society of Armenia since 1980 and the Theatre Workers Union of Armenia since 1960.

Articulation on the clarinet is achieved by a combination of precise actions taking place inside the player's mouth. With the aim to analyse the effects of tonguing and blowing actions during playing, several physical variables are measured and parameters related to articulation are studied. Mouth pressure, mouthpiece pressure and reed displacement are recorded in an experiment with clarinet players to evaluate the influence of the player's actions on the selected parameters and on the sound. The results show that different combinations of tongue and blowing actions are used during performance. Portato and legato playing show constant blowing throughout the musical phrase, which varies according to the dynamic level. In portato, short tongue-reed interaction is used homogeneously among players and playing conditions. In staccato playing, where the tongue-reed contact is longer, the mouth pressure is reduced significantly between notes. Such a mouth-pressure decrease might be used to stop the note in slow staccato playing. It is hereby shown that when the note is stopped by the action of the tongue both the attack and release transients are shorter compared to the case where the vibration of the reed is stopped by a decrease of mouth pressure.

Se propone una estrategia para conseguir variables compositivas como punto de partida creativo a partir fotografías digitales. Esta estrategia comienza con la manipulación digital de fotografías para conseguir cuadrículas de colores sobre ellas, las que se aproximarán a colores primarios y secundarios. A partir de estas cuadrículas, se formula un procedimiento a modo de algoritmo que entrega valores numéricos, los que se transformarán en variables compositivas para la elaboración de 6 micropiezas asociadas a 6 fotografías de paisajes naturales del Gran Concepción. Estas variables son: instrumentación, serie vertical, campo de eventos, tempo, cifra indicadora, y campo dinámico. Por todo esto, la obra total que presenta este documento, 6 micropiezas, llevará el nombre Paisajes del Gran Concepción.

INTRODUCTION Among the fundamental elements that allow us to recognize a flautist without seeing him are sound quality, vibrato, and the way he uses them: these elements are a bit like a digital fingerprint that differentiates and characterizes him as an unique interpreter. There has been a constant historical evolution trying to describe the flute vibrato in its uses and functions 1 , but both in the ancient treatises and in the most current research works, the emphasis has been placed on aesthetic and stylistic issues at the expense of a more objective analysis of vibrato production and its effects. In what form does the vibrato affect the sound and timbre of the flute? We sought an answer in the scientific literature on the subject, trying to give our contribution to obtain a more complete model of representation of vibrato. As methodological foundation of our research we have used two programs for the analysis of acoustic sound parameters: Spectra-Pro and an Algorithm for the measurement of vibrato fluctuations developed by VIEIRA and SILVA, of the Physics and Electronics Departments of UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 2. Normally an instrument teacher educates the students to listen and imitate a reference sound, (his own and / or that of famous colleagues, live or in recording), to bring them closer to the canons of "beauty" 3 defined by his own school of thought. When the imitatio maiorum does not lead to the desired improvements, the teacher integrates his indications focusing on explanations and exercises aimed at the body awareness of certain aspects closely related to sound production and control, such as (in the case of wind instruments and singing): alterations of the oral cavity, position of tongue, chin and lips, air velocity, support, resonance points etc. This happens in most cases through the use of metaphors (i.e. imagine to have a hot potato in your mouth) and sometimes through explanations of a more physiological flavor (an illustrious and joking example of both ways, the "Wasabi Technic" by E. Pahud 4). The method we describe introduces a third possibility, complementary to the previous ones, which is to see the sound in real time. This way we try to make available to the students an extra weapon to grasp the correlation between physical sensations and timbral changes in the sound they produce. Allowing to visualize the changes caused by the vibrato in our instrument's tone, this approach helps us to improve its understanding and management, contributing to broaden our tonal and expressive resources. We will do our best to ensure that the scientific language gets the least boring possible, but, being aware that the subject requires to be treated with an appropriate vocabulary, we apologize a priori, relying on the patience and curiosity of the readers.

La collezione di strumenti musicali dell'Accademia Filarmonica di Verona è certamente una delle raccolte più significative del panorama organologico internazionale, in particolare con riferimento alla cospicua sezione di fiati rinascimentali. L'importanza della collezione, oltre che nell'ampio numero e nella varietà di esemplari conservati (59 tra flauti dolci, flauti traversi, cornamute, cornetti negri, cornetti muti, corni torti, tromboni, doppioni e una tromba "annodata"), deriva dal fatto che questi strumenti non furono raccolti per fini museali o collezionistici in periodi successivi all'epoca del loro effettivo utilizzo ma costituiscono quanto rimane dell'originaria dotazione strumentale dell'istituzione. Tutti gli strumenti furono infatti acquistati dall'Accademia Filarmonica negli anni che vanno dalla fondazione (1543) e la peste del 1630 insieme alle musiche con essi eseguite, anch'esse in buona parte ancora conservate nella Biblioteca dell'ente. Nella seconda metà del Novecento l'intera collezione fu oggetto di un'ampia e articolata campagna di restauro che vide Rainer Weber impegnato sugli strumenti in legno (1971)(1972)(1973), Rainer Egger e Kurt Degen sulla tromba di Anton Schnitzer (1979) e Max e Heinrich Thein sui tromboni (1990). I restauri condotti da Rainer Weber sono certamente i più interessanti al fine di una prima riflessione sulle metodologie operative attuate nel restauro degli strumenti musicali nel corso del Novecento. Infatti, se i lavori di Egger e Degen sulla tromba e dei fratelli Thein sui tromboni furono condotti secondo una visione assai avanzata sotto il profilo della metodologia, con interventi quasi esclusivamente reversibili e non mimetici pur nel perseguimento del ripristino della funzionalità musicale, Rainer Weber al contrario attuò interventi spesso molto invasivi e il più delle volte non reversibili e dal forte carattere mimetico, secondo criteri che allo stato attuale delle riflessioni sul restauro difficilmente potrebbero essere considerati sempre validi nel loro complesso. La relazione illustrerà nel dettaglio gli interventi condotti da Weber sugli strumenti in legno della collezione presentando per la prima volta materiali inediti conservati presso l'Archivio dell'Accademia Filarmonica, quali le relazioni di restauro e la relativa documentazione fotografica.

Like the flute, the piccolo's low notes contain few overtones. They sound dull and rather hollow and are occasionally used to suggest a supernatural atmosphere. On the flute, where they are in the middle register, these notes sound much richer and more powerful.

This is a Neo-Classical realization of Johannes Pachelbel's chorale fantasia on the hymn tune "Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her" (From Heaven Above to Earth I Come). The opening fugue has remain mostly intact from the original with only a few embellishments and additions. The cantus firmus fantasia, however, is far more contrapuntally adventurous as compared to the original.

-Phōnia is a woodwind quintet in six movements for Flute/Piccolo, Oboe, Horn in F, B-flat Clarinet, and Bassoon. "Phonia", referring to the Greek word for sound, is the root word for many identified musical textures. This piece creates a series of musical textures based on a collection of common musical "phonia." These phonia include Homophony, Antiphony, Monophony, Heterophony, Cacophony, and Polyphony.

For performance realization see https://soundcloud.com/jordanalexanderkey/woodwind-quintet-phonia

Homophony is characterized by predominantly simultaneous, harmonic textures. This movement sets the stage for the rest of the quintet and establishes a few of the motives, harmonies, and tonal centers that will be developed.

Antiphony traditionally refers to the back-and-fourth performance of music by two contrasted ensembles. While the quintet cannot be easily divided into two separate ensembles this piece attempts to juxtapose contrasting musical material and subsets of the quintet in a call-and-response, theme-and-variation-like collage.

Monophony plays on the word’s fundamental definition: one unaccompanied musical line performed in unison or at octaves among a group of performers. While there are touches of polyphony with some rhythmic drones, most of the material of this piece plays with one musical line, developing it through augmentation, diminution, and registral expansion.

Heterophony typically characterizes one musical line performed by a collective with slight variations in the line by each of the performers. Here, Heterophony is realized through variation of the musical line through temporal augmentation in a prolation canon.

Cacophony is a transformation of the opening homophony. It is transformed by complex rhythmic and contrapuntal textures, which gives this piece moments of dense dissonance that build to the final movement of the quintet.

Polyphony is music realized through the collection of numerous independent musical lines, rather than through the harmonization of one musical line. While it is often classified separately from monophony, homophony, and heterophony, polyphony is fundamentally the synthesis of all these musical textures within a contrapuntal framework.