title: Do trumpet players tune resonances of the vocal tract?
abstract: The acoustic impedance spectrum was measured in the mouths of seven trumpeters while they played normal notes and while they practiced "bending" the pitch below or above the normal value. The peaks in vocal tract impedance usually had magnitudes rather smaller than those of the bore of the trumpet. Over the range measured, none of the trumpeters showed systematic tuning of the resonances of the vocal tract. However, all players commented that the presence of the impedance head in the mouth prevented them from playing the very highest notes of which they were normally capable. It is therefore possible that these players might use either resonance tuning or perhaps very high impedance magnitudes for some notes beyond the measured range. The observed lack of tuning contrasts with measurements for the saxophone which, like the trumpet, has weak resonances in the third and fourth octaves. Saxophonists are only able to play the highest range by tuning resonances of the vocal tract, so that the series impedance has a very strong peak at a frequency near that of the desired note. This difference is explained by the greater control that the trumpet player has over the natural frequency of the vibrating valve.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. jerming@phys.unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Jer-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wolfe
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology*; D009146:Music; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013018:Sound Spectrography