Measurement & analysis of finger forces in clarinet playing

When playing the clarinet, the musician has to press down and release multiple tone-holes and keys with the ?ngers in order to allow or prevent air from streaming out and thus change the pitch of the tone. While the other expressive parameters such as dynamics, articulation, or ?ne intonation are controlled by the air stream and tongue of the musician, the ?ngers only control pitch. However, clarinetists might not always use minimal forces in ? ngering the clarinet; particularly novice clarinetists often press the keys way more than required which results in quite tense movements that might lead on the long-run to overuse syndromes and even pain. In this project, we aim to measure and study the ?nger forces during clarinet playing with an instrument specially equipped with newly developed force sensors at all keys and tone-holes. The prototype sensor clarinet is designed to allow completely "natural" performances like playing on a normal, unequipped clarinet. Novice, student-level and professional clarinetists are invited to perform on this sensor clarinet in both controlled experimental and concert-like situations while their ?nger force pro?les are recorded together with the sound of the clarinet. The force sensors are developed, built, and tested during this project to exactly ?t the geometry of the clarinet key- work. For the set-up of the sensors, Low Temperature Co-?red Ceramic (LTCC) technology is used. LTCC technology shows excellent prerequisites to fabricate the sensor element together with its packaging in a customized way. This is especially important for the different dimensions and shapes of the tone-holes and keys of the clarinet. Research questions addressed in the experiments aim toward the skill of the musician (Do novice clarinetists press unnecessarily harder than professionals?), the musical material (Do clarinetists press more in expressive movements than while playing scales?), or the performance tempo (Do clarinetists press more when the speed up?). The very nature of the ?nger force pro?les will be studied in detail and analyzed with state-of-the-art quantitative methods and computational approaches. A ?nger force capturing system that allows non-invasive data acquisition in real concert situations is a unique source to study ?ne motor control of highly skilled musicians who practice for years to achieve acute control over every nuance of their instrument. The sensor system developed here can be adapted in the future to be built into other instruments, such as the bassoon, the oboe, or even the piano. The methodological foundations for capturing and analyzing ?nger force pro?les laid within this project may be expanded to intelligent real-time feedback systems applied in music education.

Skilled saxophonists and clarinetists have to minutely coordinate their fingers with the tongue actions and the air pressure in order to produce every nuance of expression with utmost precision expected from professional music performances nowadays. The fingers press down and release multiple tone-holes and keys to allow or prevent air from streaming out and thus change the pitch of the tone. While the fingers mainly control pitch, the tongue controls many other expressive parameters such as onset and offset timing and articulation (connection of successive tones). This research project measured and studied the above mentioned aspects of performances on single-reed woodwind instruments such as the saxophone and the clarinet: finger forces were monitored during playing with instruments equipped with custom-tailored force sensors at the tone-holes while a bending sensor, placed directly on the reed, registered the vibrations of the reed and tongue actions to it. The prototype instruments were a sensor-equipped saxophone and a specially engineered sensor clarinet, both designed to allow completely natural performances like playing on normal, unequipped instruments. The force sensors for the clarinet prototype were developed, built, and tested during this project to exactly fit the geometry of the clarinet key-work. For the set-up of the sensors, Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) technology was used. LTCC technology shows excellent prerequisites to fabricate the sensor element together with its packaging in a customized way. This is especially important for the different dimensions and shapes of the tone-holes and keys of the clarinet. Student-level and professional saxophonists and clarinetists were invited to perform on these sensor instruments in separate carefully controlled experimental situations while their finger force profiles and the reed signals were recorded together with the sound of the saxophone and the clarinet, respectively. These experiments addressed whether different effectors (the tongue, the fingers, or the both combined) produce different degrees of timing precision at a range of performance tempi (slow, medium, fast), whether finger forces applied to the clarinet keys change with performer skill (professionals pressed less than students), performance tempo (clarinetists press less when playing at fast tempi), or the musical material (clarinetists press more when playing expressive music than in finger exercises). The sensor system developed here may be adapted in the future to be built into other instruments, such as the bassoon, the oboe, or even the piano. The methodological foundations for capturing and analyzing finger force profiles laid within this project may be expanded to intelligent real-time feedback systems applied in music education.