Custom design of woodwind instruments: optimization of the geometry of flutes, thanks to the modeling of the note-to-note adaptation of the musician's control – OWN-MUSIC

In woodwind instruments (flute, clarinet, etc), the different notes are played by opening/closing side-holes. The size and location of each hole can influence the sound characteristics of all the notes of the instrument (pitch, timbre, etc.). In order to play in tune and with a homogeneous timbre, the musician must adapt his/her control for each note (mouth pressure, lip configuration, etc.). If the changes between notes are too important, the musician may have difficulty playing a musical sequence. Modifying or designing a new instrument while ensuring sufficient playing comfort for the musician is therefore a challenge in itself. The main goal of “OWN-MUSIC” project is to give manufacturers the possibility to customize this note-to-note adaptation, by guiding them on the geometrical modifications to be made. This project will focus on instruments of the flute family (recorder and flute).

More precisely, the first objective is to quantify the adaptation effort required between two notes and to establish models predicting this quantity from the geometry. This will be based on high-precision acoustic simulations and on the design of perceptual experiments with musicians and manufacturers. These models will be validated by using and refining adapted artificial mouths. Specially designed and manufactured instruments will be used to test the predictions of these models with these devices and musicians.
A second objective is to develop a digital tool that can be used directly by manufacturers to provide them with a decision aid for modifying the geometry of an instrument. It will enable geometric modifications to be proposed to correct defects in existing instruments and to design instruments with customized control. This requires the establishment of a suitable optimisation problem including the definition of cost functions and the implementation of advanced numerical techniques. An online graphical interface will be developed with the craftsmen to enable them to use these features.