The Interactions Between Wind Instruments and their Players

To play a wind instrument well, the player controls several elements in the player-instrument system, beginning with the source of pressurised air in the lungs. The bore of the instrument is a resonant duct whose geometry is controlled by the player's fingers via keys, valves or a slide. At the mouthpiece the player controls several parameters of a nonlinear element (which is an air jet, reed or the player's lips) that produces sustained oscillations. Upstream from this valve is a second resonant duct–the player's vocal tract–whose geometry is also controlled. This paper gives an overview of the interactions of these elements and how they are controlled by the player.