Reed material and support determine whether tone is focused or flexible.
Evidence
In the absence of a resonator, the reed would vibrate at its natural fre quency. This is the frequency at which it would vibrate if it were plucked. If a plucked reed continues to vibrate for a long time, then it has a strong tendency to vibrate at a frequency within a narrow range but, if it vibrates for a short time, there is a wide range of frequencies over which it is able to vibrate. This effect is illustrated in Figure 4.21. This difference is exhib ited depending on the material from which the reed is made and how it is supported. A reed which vibrates over a narrow frequency range is usu ally made from brass and supported rigidly, and is known as a “hard” reed. A reed which vibrates over a wide range might be made from cane or plas tic, held in a pliable support, and known as a “soft” reed. — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1229
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Defines hard vs soft reeds by a physically meaningful criterion: narrowness of the natural-frequency range.
Related
- Hard reeds fix pitch, freeing resonators to shape only harmonics (similarity 0.79)
- Reed vibration frequency depends on reed, air column, and coupling (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Pipe length sets pitch while diameter and material shape harmonic strength
#exemplifies(0.80) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1182 - Hard reeds fix pitch, freeing resonators to shape only harmonics
#exemplifies(0.72) — David Howard, Jamie Angus, coustics and Psychoacoustics, 1234