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REED INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a a...

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 975 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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REED See also:INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a anche; Ger. Blas-instrumente mit Zungen; It. Strumenti a ancia) , a class of See also:wind instruments in the tubes of which See also:sound-waves are generated by the vibrations of a reed See also:mouthpiece. Reed instruments fall into two See also:great classes: (I) those blown directly by the breath of the performer, who is thus able in all but a few obsolete instruments to See also:express his emotional feelings in See also:music; (2) those in which the wind See also:supply is obtained by See also:mechanical devices, such as the bag of bagpipe instruments or the See also:bellows of such See also:keyboard instruments as the See also:regal, See also:harmonium and kindred instruments. Directly-blown reed instruments comprise the See also:section of See also:modern wind instruments known as the "See also:wood wind," with the exception of See also:flute and See also:piccolo; they are classified according to the See also:kind of reed vibrator of which the mouthpiece is composed. There are three kinds of reed mouthpieces: (r) the single or beating reed; (2) the See also:double reed; (3) the See also:free reed, all of which perform the See also:function of sound-producer (see MOUTHPIECE and FREE REED VIBRATOR). The reed used consists of a thin See also:tongue or See also:strip of reed, See also:cane or some elastic material, thinned gradually to a delicate edge. It is adapted to a resonating See also:tube in such a manner that when it is at See also:rest the opening at the mouthpiece end of the tube consists only of a very slight See also:aperture or chink, which is periodically opened and closed by the pulsations of the reed when acted upon by the compressed breath of the player. This principle is See also:common to all reed mouthpieces, and the difference in timbre is in a measure due to the manner in which the pulsations are brought about and the degree of See also:elasticity secured. The double reed consists of two See also:blades of reed or laminae of elastic material tightly See also:bound together by many turns of; waxed See also:silk, so that above the construction the tube has an See also:oval section; below, where it communicates with the See also:main See also:bore of the See also:instrument, the tube is strictly cylindrical. The chink here is formed by two thin walls of reed of equal elasticity (see See also:OBOE, See also:BASSOON). The double reed is common to the members of the oboe See also:family, consisting, besides the oboe, of the See also:cor anglais or See also:tenor, of the fagotto or bassoon, and of the contra fagotto or double bassoon.

The double reed mouthpiece is used besides on the sarrusophone family, instruments of See also:

brass but classed with the wood wind on See also:account of the mouthpiece and fingering. The single or beating reed consists of a single blade bevelled at the edge and placed over a table or See also:frame communicating with the main bore of the instrument, against which it beats, causing a See also:series of pulsations. The single reed is common to all the members of the See also:clarinet family, consisting, besides theclarinet, of the See also:basset-See also:horn or tenor, and of the See also:bass and pedal clarinets; of the See also:batyphone, an See also:early bass clarinet, and of the See also:saxophone, a See also:metal oboe with a beating reed instead of a double reed. The See also:ancient See also:Greek See also:aulos was undoubtedly used with a beating reed during some See also:period of its See also:history. The free reed is not represented among members of the modern wood wind, and, as adapted to a directly-blown instrument, only finds application in the See also:Chinese See also:cheng, the prototype of the harmonium, and in the mouth See also:organ or See also:harmonica. The reed in wind instruments produces a See also:peculiar See also:tone quality to which it has given its name; it varies in the three different kinds of mouthpieces without losing the fundamental reedy timbre. In the single reed the impact against the hard wood or vulcanite of the table against which it beats produces a sound harsh and strident in inverse proportion to the degree of elasticity possessed by the vibrating tongue. In the clarinet the reed is carefully and delicately made of cane with due regard to the interdependence of reed and clarinet tube. The strong wooden or metallic beating reeds of the early organ reed pipes must have had an unpleasantly harsh timbre, which won for them in See also:Germany the epithet Schnarrwerk. In the double reed the two delicately shaped pieces of reed vibrate against each other, producing the somewhat nasal, reedy tone of the oboe family. In the free reed compressed See also:air is the only buffer which the vibrator encounters while swinging through the aperture, alternately closing and reopening it; hence the soft and mellow timbre which it is possible to produce by proper treatment of the free reed. Experience has shown that the best results for the double reed are obtained when it is used in See also:conjunction with a tube of conical bore, whereas the beating reed is heard to greater See also:advantage in instruments with cylindrical bore, one notable exception in practice being, as already mentioned, the saxophone family.

The double reed adapted to a conical tube confers upon the latter the acoustic properties of the open See also:

pipe, whose See also:wave-length is equal to that of the tube and which is capable of overblowing the See also:octave and successive harmonics (theoretically). Either a single or a double reed adapted to a cylindrical pipe converts it for all acoustic purposes into a closed pipe, in which the whole wave-length is twice the length of the tube, a See also:node forming at the mouthpiece end. The fundamental See also:note of such a tube will therefore be an octave See also:lower than that of an open pipe of the same length, and it can only overblow the uneven See also:numbers of the See also:harmonic series, such as the third harmonic (or twelfth above the fundamental). In See also:order to overblow on instruments with reed mouthpieces, greater pressure of breath must be exerted, and the vibrating length of the reed must be decreased by the See also:action of the lips upon it. This is what occurs in instruments of the obce and clarinet type, which are blown directly from the mouth. There are, however, cases in which the reed is concealed within the instrument out of reach of the lips, either in a See also:capsule, as in the old instruments hautbois de See also:Poitou and See also:cromorne, or else in a socket, as in the chaunter and drones of the bagpipe, or, again, as in the mouthpieces of organ reed pipes. In the last (each of which gives but one fixed note) the vibrating length of the reed tongue is fixed, as is also the pressure of the compressed air supply fed to them. The result in all these cases is similar: no harmonics can be obtained, and therefore the See also:scale of the instrument depends solely on the number of holes and keys provided, whereas, where the lips See also:control the reed, fewer holes are necessary to produce any given See also:compass. The chaunters of bagpipes have double reeds, but the drones are as a See also:rule provided with beating reeds and are of cylindrical bore, a See also:combination which, for the See also:reason explained above, gives them a note an octave deeper in See also:pitch, the length of pipe being equal, than would be the See also:case if the bore were conical. In the musette, in the cornemuse used in See also:concert with the hautbois de Poitou, and in the Neapolitan surdelina (see BAGPIPE), both chaunter and drones had double reeds. The aulos of the ancient Greeks and See also:tibia of the See also:Romans consisted in. the older instruments of a cylindrical tube of very narrow The ancient Egyptians used the See also:primitive beating reed familiarly known as " squeaker," obtained by making a slight lateral slit across a reed pipe or See also:stem of See also:straw, and with the See also:knife splitting back longitudinally until a tongue was raised; the shorter the tongue the quicker the vibration and the higher the pitch. This small beating reed was then sank some 3 or 4 in. within the main tube of the instrument; some of these reeds have been discovered in tombs by See also:Professor See also:Flinders See also:Petrie.' It is certain that the ancient Greeks did not use the reed in this See also:form in the aulos, for classical writers distinctly describe the effect produced on a reed by taking it into the mouth, but it is equally certain that they were acquainted with the principle of the See also:drone.

The history of the keyboard instruments furnishes instances of the early use of reeds. In the modern See also:

English See also:church organ the reed See also:work is provided with beating reeds only, but in Germany, for the See also:sake of obtaining the See also:power of expression, a set of free-reed stops is nearly always added.' It is probable that some of the early pneumatic and See also:hydraulic See also:organs (see ORGAN) at the beginning of our era were provided with beating reeds in See also:imitation of the bagpipe chaunter and drones. In the See also:middle ages the regal (q.v.), a small, portative reed-organ fitted with beating reeds, was extremely popular in See also:England and all over the See also:continent of See also:Europe, but more especially in Germany and See also:Italy. (K.

End of Article: REED INSTRUMENTS (Fr. instruments a anche; Ger. Blas-instrumente mit Zungen; It. Strumenti a ancia)

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