Temporal characterization of experimental recorder attack transients

Through the comparison of notes produced on two recorders by one novice and two experienced players in musical contexts, this study identifies the temporal aspects of the attack transients which are controlled by the player and those which are imposed by the dynamic response of the instrument. The rise times of mouth pressure used by the novice player are longer than the ones produced by the experienced players, which are the shortest ones preserving the control of the jet velocity rise times. For shortest rise times, the jet development is limited by the inertia of the channel. The onset time of the acoustic oscillation is divided in two parts: the time needed to initiate the oscillation and the duration of the growth. The times of growth are similar for the novice and the experienced players, which is linked to the similarity of the gain characterizing the linear behavior of the instrument. The times needed to initiate the oscillation show the most pronounced difference between the two types of players; it is much longer for a novice player. This difference is interpreted in terms of the initial input of energy in the system which is larger for the experienced players.