ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs.

experiments

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE RADIATED SOUND

PRODUCED BY A SCOTTISH BORDER BAGPIPE
CHANTER, AND THE SOLUTION OF A SIMPLE
PHYSICAL MODEL USING HARMBAL
Sandra Carral

Institute of Musical Acoustics

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
carral@mdw.ac.at

Abstract
In a previous study, the reed of a Scottish Border bagpipe chanter was
stored in different relative humidity conditions. Its physical parameters were
measured, as well as the radiated sound produced by the chanter and reed
system. It was found that the relative humidity at which the reed was stored
influences the reed parameters, as well as the pitch and spectral centroid of the
radiated sound produced by the instrument. In this paper, the reed parame-
ters that were measured earlier are introduced into a simple physical model of
the chanter and reed system, and solved with the Harmonic Balance Method.
The reed is modelled as a simple harmonic oscillator, the impedance curve of
the bore is calculated using a transmission line model, and the pressure differ-
ence across the mouthpiece is related to the volume flow following Bernoulli’s
equation. By solving this model, a program called harmbal 1 calculates the
playing frequency and the internal spectrum of the sound inside the mouth-
piece. The former is compared to the pitch and the latter is convolved with
the transfer function of the chanter to obtain the radiated spectrum, from
which the spectral centroid is calculated, and compared to what was obtained
experimentally.

INTRODUCTION

[Carral and Campbell, 2005] found that the relative humidity at which the bag-
pipe chanter reed is stored affects its physical parameters, as well as the sound the
instrument produces while being played with an artificial blowing machine.
This paper is aimed at investigating to what extent a simple physical model of
the chanter and reed system is able to mimic the results obtained in [Carral and
Campbell, 2005], and raises questions on where the limitations of the model might
be. Ultimately, having a more realistic physical model that behaves in the same way
as a real instrument does, might bring us closer to a better understanding of the
sound production process in woodwinds, as well as which and to what extent the
variations on the reed parameters are responsible for the change in the produced
sound of the instrument.
The Harmonic Balance Method was first applied to find the periodic solutions
of self-sustained musical instruments by [Gilbert et al., 1989]. [Farner et al., 2006]
have developed a computer program called harmbal, that applies the Harmonic
Balance Method to solve problems where a linear exciter is non linearly coupled to
a linear resonator. This program has been so far used to solve clarinet models: [Fritz
et al., 2003] used harmbal to study how the vocal tract of the musician affects the
1
Written by Snorre Farner: http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/∼farner/pub/harmbal/
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

mouthpiece

lip
U
p
−h bore
pm
0
lip
y

Figure 1: Schematic of a clarinet mouthpiece

playing frequency of the clarinet. [Fritz et al., 2004] have used harmbal to study the
influence of the reed mass and damping in the spectrum of the clarinet. [Vergez and
Lizée, 2005] presented a method to find the stability in the solutions determined by
harmbal.
In this paper, a simple physical model of a Scottish Border bagpipe chanter
and reed is proposed, where the reed parameters are those measured in [Carral and
Campbell, 2005].

PHYSICAL MODEL

The chanter and reed system are modelled as a self-sustained oscillator with a
linear exciter (the reed) that is coupled non linearly to a linear resonator (the air
column). This section presents the equations that were used to model these three
components.

Reed

[Almeida et al., 2002] have provided evidence that the two blades of a double
reed have symmetric displacement. This means that the motion of only one blade
needs to be modelled as a simple harmonic oscillator:

d2 y dy 2 1
+ g r + ω r y = − ∆P (1)
dt2 dt µr
where y is the displacement of the reed, gr its damping factor, ωr its resonance
frequency, µr its mass per unit area, ∆P = pm − p, pm is the pressure inside the
mouth or wind cap and p is the pressure inside the reed. The stiffness k of the reed
is

k = µr ωr2 (2)
This linear approximation only holds for non-beating reeds [Fritz et al., 2004],
[Gilbert et al., 1989].
The maximum negative value that y can take is −h (see Figure 1), at which point
the reed gap is closed and the air flow into the mouthpiece is completely blocked.
This occurs when the mouth pressure pm is equal or greater to the closing pressure
pM :

pM = µr ωr2 h = kh (3)
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

2
10

|Z | (Ohms)
0
10

in
−2
10
0 2 4 6 8

∠ Z (rad)
0

in
−2
0 2 4 6 8
Frequency (KHz)

Figure 2: Calculated input impedance of the chanter

Air column

The air column is usually characterised by its input impedance Zin , which de-
scribes the interaction between the volume flow and the pressure inside the mouth-
piece. in the frequency domain:

P (ω) = Zin (ω)U(ω) (4)

Zin was calculated from the bore profile of the chanter provided by the maker,
using a transmission line model as described in [Plitnik and Strong, 1979]. It is
shown in Figure 2.

Nonlinear coupling

The volume flow is related to the pressure across the mouthpiece by following
Bernoulli’s equation as follows [Kergomard, 1996]:
s
2∆P
U = w(y + h) sign(∆P ) (5)
ρ

HARMONIC BALANCE METHOD

Equations 1 (reed), 4 (air column) and 5 (nonlinear coupling) can be solved

by the Harmonic Balance Method [Fritz et al., 2004]. To keep these equations as
general as possible, these equations are converted into dimensionless quantities by
substituting:

y
ỹ = (6)
h
p
p̃ = (7)
pM
t̃ = tωp (8)
pm
γ= (9)
pM
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

where ωp is the angular frequency of the first resonance peak of the air column.
Similarly, equation 1 using dimensionless quantities becomes:

d2 ỹ dỹ
M + R + K ỹ = p̃ − γ (10)
dt̃2 dt̃

Salt Relative h  k   ωr   gr  R M ζ
Humidity (mm) MPa krad krad ×10−2 ×10−2 ×10−1
m s s
KC2 H3 O2 26% 0.35 70 30.16 2.51 1.0489 1.5842 7.2309
MgCl2 46% 0.3 65 28.9 2.01 0.9137 1.7250 6.9472
Mg(NO3 )2 59% 0.3 60 28.27 2.26 1.0740 1.8025 7.2309
NaCl 82% 0.3 55 28.27 1.88 0.8950 1.8025 7.5524
KCl 94% 0.225 55 27.96 2.42 1.1746 1.8432 6.5406
K2 SO4 99% 0.25 45 26.39 2.2 1.1987 2.0692 7.8896

Table 1: Approximate values of height of opening at rest h, stiffness k, resonance

frequency ωr and damping factor gr of the reed (taken from [Carral and Campbell,
2005]), as well as the dimensionless reed parameters R, M and ζ that were input to
the program harmbal

The parameters:
ωp 2
 
M= (11)
ωr
ωp gr
R= 2 (12)
ωr
are the the dimensionless mass and damping respectively, and since the reed closes
when pm = pM , K = 1 (dimensionless stiffness) [Fritz et al., 2004].
Similarly, equation 5 becomes:
q
Ũ (p̃, ỹ) = ζ(1 + ỹ) |γ − p̃|sign(γ − p̃) (13)
as long as ỹ > −1, otherwise Ũ (p̃, ỹ) = 0 [Fritz et al., 2004]. The “embouchure”
parameter
s
2
ζ = Z0 wh (14)
ρpM
is a parameter that characterises the mouthpiece [Fritz et al., 2004].
Finally, the dimensionless form of the input impedance is obtained by:
Zin
Z̃in = (15)
Z0
where
ρc
Z0 = (16)
S
S being the crosssectional area of the air column (cylindrical section) at the reed
input. The dimensionless quantities in the frequency domain are:
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

a) b)
80 4
26% 26%
82% 82%

Spectral Centroid (kHz)

60

Pitch variation (Cents)

99% 99%

40 3.5

20

3
0

−20

2.5
−40
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pressure (kPa) Pressure (kPa)

Figure 3: a) Pitch and b) spectral centroid variation vs pressure. The threshold

pressure is indicated by a circle

P̃ (ω) = Z̃in (ω)Ũ(ω) (17)

The program harmbal requires the parameters R, M and ζ, which are specified
in a parameter file. In the version of harmbal used in this study (v1.27b), the input
impedance of the air column can be specified in a file. For a detailed discussion
on the Harmonic Balance Method, as well as how the program harmbal solves this
model, the reader is referred to [Gilbert et al., 1989], [Fritz et al., 2004] and [Farner
et al., 2006].

Physical parameters of the reed

In [Carral and Campbell, 2005] the reed of a bagpipe chanter was stored in
containers with controlled relative humidity conditions by using various aqueous
salt solutions, following the method described in [ASTM, 1998]. After having stored
the reed in a particular container for several days, it was taken out of the container
and the following parameters were measured: the opening height at rest h, stiffness
k, resonance frequency ωr and damping factor gr . The results obtained in that study
are summarised in Table 1.

Reed parameter calculation

The dimensionless parameters R, M and ζ are calculated with equations 11, 12

and 14, using the parameters obtained experimentally. The speed of sound was taken
to be c = 343.37 m kg
s , and the density of air ρ = 1.2 m3 . The resulting parameters,
which were passed to harmbal, are presented in Table 1.

RESULTS

Pitch and spectral centroid as measured experimentally

The pitch and spectral centroid variation for three cases, where the mean relative
humidity was approximately 26%, 82% and 99% are presented in Figure 3. In the
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

Magnitude (dB)
−20

−40

−60

−80
1 2 3 4 5 6

Phase (rad)
2

−2

1 2 3 4 5 6
Frequency (kHz)

Figure 4: Transfer function of chanter

pitch variation curves presented throughout this paper, 0 cents corresponds to 586.67
Hz, which is the frequency at which the studied note of the chanter was tuned (D5
in a just intonation scale 2 ).
Figure 3 shows that the threshold pressure, as well as the pitch and spectral
centroid vs. pressure curves tend to drop gradually as the storage relative humidity
increases.

Pitch and spectral centroid obtained by harmbal

The program harmbal calculates the playing frequency and the spectrum inside
the mouthpiece. The pitch variation can be calculated directly from the playing
frequency, and is shown in Figure 5 a).
To calculate the spectral centroid of the radiated sound, the spectrum inside the
mouthpiece was first convolved with the transfer function of the chanter, which was
obtained experimentally, and is shown in Figure 4. The spectral centroid obtained
is shown in Figure 5 b).
The plots shown in Figure 5 stop at the point where the reed started beating.
The reduction of threshold pressure as the relative humidity increases was predicted
by harmbal, as was found experimentally.

Discussion

A comparison between the results obtained experimentally and the results ob-
tained by solving the model using harmbal shows that the model was able to predict
the reduction in threshold pressure with increasing relative humidity, as was found
experimentally. However, there are also large discrepancies:

• The pitch of the chanter in the experiment was mostly below the first air
column resonance (located at around 50 cents in Figures 3a) and 5 a) ), whereas
in the model, the playing frequency is below the air column resonance only for
pressures close to the threshold pressure
2
This information was provided by the manufacturer Nigel Richards from Garvie Bagpipes:
http://www.borderpipes.co.uk/
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

a) b)
350 2
26% 26%
46%
46%
300 59%

Spectral Centroid (kHz)

Pitch variation (cents)
59% 82%
94%
82% 1.5
250 99%
94%

200 99%
First air column resonance 1
150

100
0.5
50

0 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Pressure (kPa) Pressure (kPa)

Figure 5: a) Pitch and b) spectral centroid variation vs pressure calculated with

harmbal

• The experiment shows a decrease in pitch and spectral centroid as the relative
humidity increases. In the model the pitch seems to be independent on relative
humidity. It is possible that the pitch drops once the reed starts beating, and
that a model that can be solved for pressures above the beating threshold
could show that behaviour as well. In the model, the rate at which the spectral
centroid grows for increasing pressures drops for higher relative humidity.
• For low pressures, the spectral centroid calculated from the model is close to
the frequency of the first harmonic. A close inspection at the evolution of the
first few harmonics as the pressure increases (for a detailed analysis, see[Carral,
2005], Chapter 7) shows that for low pressures the first harmonic dominates,
and as the pressure increases, higher harmonics start to build up, as the effect
of the non linearity in equation 13 increases. The spectral centroid increase
shown in in Figure 5 b) is a direct consequence of this. Contrary to this, in
the experiment, for low pressures the spectral centroid is high, which means
that even at pressures close to threshold, the spectrum is rich in harmonics.
• The threshold pressures observed in the experiment range between 3 and 5 kPa,
whereas in the model range of pressures observed experimentally was between
2 and 8 kPa. This can be due to the fact that the stiffness measurements
presented in [Carral and Campbell, 2005] had large uncertainties.
• The chanter exhibits hysteresis when it is played: it is possible to play below
the minimum pressure required to start the vibrations. This behaviour was
not observed in the model.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK

The objective of this paper was to compare the experimental results obtained in
[Carral and Campbell, 2005] with the solution of a simple model of the instrument
obtained by harmbal. The model was able to predict a reduction of threshold pres-
sure as the storage relative humidity increases. The reduction in pitch and spectral
centroid with increasing relative humidity observed in [Carral and Campbell, 2005],
ISMA 2007 Bagpipe model vs. experiments

as well as the hysteresis effect (the fact that it is possible to play the chanter at
pressures lower than the threshold pressure, once the chanter is playing) were not
reproduced by the model.
Suggested modifications to the model include:

• Calculating the reed stiffness parameter from other experimental data, for
example, from the threshold pressure
• Increasing the number of harmonics used to be able to get solutions over the
beating threshold
• Implementing the flow characteristics curve that [Almeida et al., 2007] found
for oboe reeds
• Modifying the model to include hysteresis effects

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