Part for wind musical instrument and wind musical instrument

Abstract

To provide a part for a wind musical instrument capable of changing acoustic characteristics of the wind musical instrument without changing a playing style of the wind musical instrument.SOLUTION: A part 3 for a wind musical instrument comprises a tubular wall portion 10. At least a portion of the tubular wall portion 10 is provided with: an inner wall 11 composing an inner cylindrical surface 10a of the tubular wall portion 10; an outer wall 12 composing an outer cylindrical surface 10b of the tubular wall portion 10 and located spaced apart from the inner wall 11 in a thickness direction of the tubular wall portion 10; and an infill pattern 13 formed in a space S1 between the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to parts for wind instruments and wind instruments.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a musical instrument silencer that has a housing for accommodating a woodwind instrument and enables the woodwind instrument housed in the housing to be played from outside the housing as a part for a wind instrument that changes the acoustic characteristics of the woodwind instrument. Since a woodwind instrument has many sound holes, it is difficult to suppress the volume, which is an example of acoustic characteristics, as small as that of a brass instrument with few or no sound holes. On the other hand, the musical instrument silencer of Patent Document 1 suppresses the volume of the woodwind instrument by accommodating the woodwind instrument in the housing and covering a plurality of sound holes of the woodwind instrument.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the musical instrument silencer of Patent Document 1, since the woodwind instrument is accommodated in the housing, the playing mode of the woodwind instrument changes greatly compared to the case where the woodwind instrument is not accommodated in the housing. For example, when the woodwind instrument is accommodated in the housing, the part that is operated by fingers of the woodwind instrument cannot be seen, and also, the woodwind instrument becomes heavier by the weight of the housing, so there is a possibility that it becomes difficult to play the woodwind instrument. From the above, in the case of a woodwind instrument, it is particularly difficult to change acoustic characteristics such as volume without changing the playing mode compared to a brass instrument.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a component for a wind instrument capable of changing the acoustic characteristics of a wind instrument without changing the playing mode of the wind instrument such as a woodwind instrument, and a wind instrument including the same.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] One aspect of the present invention is a component for a wind instrument having a cylindrical wall portion, and at least a part of the cylindrical wall portion includes an inner wall constituting the inner cylindrical surface of the cylindrical wall portion, an outer wall constituting the outer cylindrical surface of the cylindrical wall portion, and being spaced apart from the inner wall in the thickness direction of the cylindrical wall portion, and an infill pattern formed in a space between the inner wall and the outer wall.

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is a wind instrument including a wind instrument body and the component for a wind instrument attached to the wind instrument body.

Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, the acoustic characteristics of a wind instrument can be changed without changing the playing mode of the wind instrument.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

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Figure 10

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. As shown in FIG. 1, the wind instrument 1 of the present embodiment is a clarinet, which is a kind of woodwind instrument. The wind instrument 1 includes a wind instrument body 2, a mouthpiece 3 and a barrel 4 which are components for the wind instrument. The wind instrument body 2 includes an upper tube 2A and a lower tube 2B on the outer surface of which a plurality of keys 5 are arranged, and a bell part 2C. In the wind instrument 1 (clarinet) of FIG. 1, the mouthpiece 3, the barrel 4, the upper tube 2A, the lower tube 2B, and the bell part 2C are connected in order. In the wind instrument 1 of the present embodiment, the wind instrument body 2 and the barrel 4 are the same components as those of a normal clarinet.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 2, the mouthpiece 3 has the same external shape as a conventional mouthpiece, and constitutes a blowing part for blowing air into the wind instrument 1 together with a single reed (not shown). The mouthpiece 3 has a cylindrical wall part 10 in which an inlet 101 and an outlet 102 are formed. The inlet 101 opens in a partial area of a table 10b1 which is formed flat on the outer cylindrical surface 10b of the cylindrical wall part 10 facing outward and on which the reed is overlapped and arranged.

[0012] As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the cylindrical wall part 10 is provided with an inner wall 11, an outer wall 12, and an infill pattern 13. The inner wall 11 constitutes the inner cylindrical surface 10a of the cylindrical wall portion 10 facing inward. The outer wall 12 constitutes the outer cylindrical surface 10b of the cylindrical wall portion 10. The outer wall 12 is positioned at an interval from the inner wall 11 in the thickness direction of the cylindrical wall portion 10. In the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 are provided in a part of the cylindrical wall portion 10. The inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 may be provided, for example, at a portion of the cylindrical wall portion 10 where its thickness dimension is relatively large, or may be provided, for example, over the entire cylindrical wall portion 10.

[0013] The infill pattern 13 is a structure for filling the inside of various shaped objects. The infill pattern 13 means a pre-determined shape and a reproducible shape before manufacturing the mouthpiece 3 (a component for wind instruments) by a 3D printer or the like. For this reason, for example, a plurality of mouthpieces 3 having exactly the same shape of the infill pattern 13 can be manufactured. Specific shapes of the infill pattern 13 include lines (straight lines, curves), lattices, polygons such as triangles, stars, honeycombs, spiral shapes, and the like.

[0014] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the mouthpiece 3, the infill pattern 13 is formed in the space S1 between the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12. The infill pattern 13 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of protrusions 131 protruding from the inner surfaces 11a and 12a of the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 facing each other. The protrusions 131 of the present embodiment are formed in a columnar shape with both ends connected to the inner surface 11a of the inner wall 11 and the inner surface 12a of the outer wall 12. In FIG. 3, a plurality of protrusions 131 formed in a columnar shape are arranged at intervals from each other. Also, in FIG. 3, adjacent columnar protrusions 131 are parallel to each other. In FIG. 4, the protrusions 131 formed in a columnar shape are arranged so as to intersect or be parallel to each other. The columnar protrusions 131 may be any columnar shape such as a square prism, a triangular prism, or a circular prism.

[0015] The cylindrical wall portion 10 including the infill pattern 13 is formed in a laminated structure. That is, the cylindrical wall portion 10 is formed by stacking a large number of layers. Hereinafter, with reference to the photographs of FIGS. 5 and 6, the laminated structure will be described.

[0016] The photograph of FIG. 5 shows an example of the mouthpiece 3 including the cylindrical wall portion 10 formed in a laminated structure. The photograph of FIG. 6 is a magnified photograph of the region VI in the photograph of FIG. 5. The interval between the scale lines at the scale shown in the photograph of FIG. 6 is 1 mm. The arrow D1 in FIGS. 5 and 6 indicates the lamination direction of a large number of layers. As shown in FIG. 6, since the cylindrical wall portion 10 is formed in a laminated structure, lamination marks 14 appear on the outer cylindrical surface 10b of the cylindrical wall portion 10. The lamination marks 14 are streaks (lines) indicating the boundaries of the layers adjacent in the lamination direction D1. In the photograph of FIG. 6, the lamination marks 14 are arranged in the lamination direction D1 at an interval of approximately 0.1 mm. Although not shown, the lamination marks 14 also appear on the inner cylindrical surface 10a of the cylindrical wall portion 10.

[0017] The mouthpiece 3 including such a cylindrical wall portion 10 is manufactured by a 3D printer. When manufacturing the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment by a 3D printer, the shape of the mouthpiece 3 including the cylindrical wall portion 10 is determined in advance. Also, the material used for manufacturing the mouthpiece 3 is selected. Also, the lamination pitch of the mouthpiece 3 to be manufactured is set. Also, the infill pattern 13 included in the cylindrical wall portion 10 is set. Also, the infill density of the cylindrical wall portion 10 (or the mouthpiece 3) is set. In the mouthpiece 3 illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, for example, the infill density may be set to 20%. These orders are not particularly limited. Thereafter, the mouthpiece 3 is created by shaping the mouthpiece 3 according to the preset shape, lamination pitch, and infill pattern 13 of the mouthpiece 3.

[0018] As described above, in the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment, the infill pattern 13 is provided in the space S1 between the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 of the cylindrical wall portion 10. For this reason, the acoustic characteristics of the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment are different from the acoustic characteristics of a normal mouthpiece without the space S1. Thereby, in the wind instrument 1, the acoustic characteristics of the wind instrument 1 can be easily changed only by replacing the normal mouthpiece with the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment. In addition, the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment has the same appearance as a normal mouthpiece. As a result, it becomes possible to change the acoustic characteristics of the wind instrument 1 without changing the playing mode of the wind instrument 1.

[0019] Moreover, in the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment, the cylindrical wall portion 10 including the infill pattern 13 is formed in a laminated structure. Such a mouthpiece 3 can be manufactured by a 3D printer. As a result, even if the shape of the infill pattern 13 is complicated, the cylindrical wall portion 10 including the infill pattern 13 can be easily formed.

[0020] In addition, since the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment is created by a 3D printer, the infill density of the cylindrical wall portion 10 (or the mouthpiece 3) can also be appropriately adjusted. When the infill density decreases, the rigidity of the cylindrical wall portion 10 (or the mouthpiece 3) decreases. As a result, the mute effect in the wind instrument 1 becomes larger, and the volume generated in the wind instrument 1 becomes smaller. Therefore, by adjusting the infill density, the volume generated in the wind instrument 1 using the mouthpiece 3 can be adjusted.

[0021] Moreover, in the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment, the infill pattern 13 includes protrusions 131 that protrude from at least one of the inner surfaces 11a and 12a of the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12. Therefore, the rigidity of the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 can be improved by the protrusions 131. As a result, even if the thickness of the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 is thin, the strength of the inner wall 11 and the outer wall 12 can be ensured. Also, it is possible to change the acoustic characteristics of the mouthpiece 3 according to the form (size, position, etc.) of the protrusions 131. Therefore, it is also possible to provide mouthpieces 3 having various acoustic characteristics.

[0022] In addition, in the present embodiment, the mouthpiece 3 is a cylindrical component of the wind instrument 1 that can be relatively easily replaced. Therefore, by adopting the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment, it becomes possible to easily change the acoustic characteristics of the wind instrument 1.

[0023] Hereinafter, with reference to the experimental results shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the difference in acoustic characteristics between the mouthpiece 3 of the present embodiment (hereinafter referred to as the mouthpiece 3 of the example) and a normal mouthpiece (hereinafter referred to as the mouthpiece of the comparative example) will be described.

[0024] FIG. 7 is a time-series graph of the volume when an alto saxophone, which is a type of woodwind instrument, is played in a long tone using the mouthpiece 3 of the example. FIG. 8 is a time-series graph of the volume when the alto saxophone is played in a long tone using the mouthpiece of the comparative example. That is, the graphs of the example and the comparative example shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are time-series graphs when the same woodwind instrument (alto saxophone) is played by the same playing method (long tone). In the graphs of FIGS. 7 and 8, the horizontal axis indicates the time corresponding to the playing time, and the vertical axis indicates the gauge pressure (Pa) corresponding to the volume of the alto saxophone.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 8, when the mouthpiece of the comparative example is used, the pressure value corresponding to the volume is generally larger than ±0.5 (Pa). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, when the mouthpiece 3 of the example is used, the pressure value corresponding to the volume is smaller than ±0.5 (Pa). That is, with the mouthpiece 3 of the example, the volume is smaller than that of the mouthpiece of the comparative example when played by the same playing method. Therefore, it has become clear that simply replacing the mouthpiece of the comparative example with the mouthpiece 3 of the example in the alto saxophone can easily reduce the volume of the alto saxophone. Such a reduction in volume (attenuation) is one of the changes in acoustic characteristics.

[0026] FIG. 9 is a graph showing the frequency characteristics of the alto saxophone using the mouthpiece 3 of the example and the frequency characteristics of the alto saxophone using the mouthpiece of the comparative example. The horizontal axis of the graph in FIG. 9 indicates the frequency, and the vertical axis indicates the sound pressure level.

[0027] As shown in Fig. 9, regardless of whether the mouthpiece 3 of the embodiment or the mouthpiece of the comparative example is used, the frequency at which the peak of the sound pressure level appears (peak frequency) is almost the same. However, when the mouthpiece 3 of the embodiment is used, as the frequency increases, the sound pressure level at the peak frequency tends to be lower compared to the case where the mouthpiece of the comparative example is used. This means that the tone color of the alto saxophone using the mouthpiece 3 of the embodiment has a tone color in which the volume of a sharp sound (a sound with a high peak frequency) is suppressed compared to the tone color of the alto saxophone using the mouthpiece of the comparative example. From this, it has become clear that the tone color of the alto saxophone can be easily changed simply by replacing the mouthpiece of the comparative example with the mouthpiece 3 of the embodiment in the alto saxophone. Such a change in tone color is one of the changes in acoustic characteristics.

[0028] As described above, the present invention has been described in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0029] In the mouthpiece 3 of the above embodiment, the protrusion 131 constituting the infill pattern 13 may protrude from at least one of the inner walls 11 and the inner surfaces 11a and 12a of the outer wall 12. That is, the protrusion 131 may be formed, for example, in a columnar shape with both ends connected to the inner surface 11a of the inner wall 11 or the inner surface 12a of the outer wall 12. Further, the protrusion 131 may be formed, for example, to extend from the inner surfaces 11a and 12a of the inner wall 11 or the outer wall 12 and have a columnar shape whose tip does not reach the inner surfaces 11a and 12a of the inner wall 11 or the outer wall 12. Further, the protrusion 131 formed in a columnar shape is not limited to extending linearly, and may extend in a curved shape. Further, the protrusion 131 is not limited to being formed in a columnar shape, and may be formed in another shape such as a hemispherical shape, for example. The hemispherical protrusion 131 may protrude from the inner surface 11a of the inner wall 11 and the inner surface 12a of the outer wall 12.

[0030] The parts for wind instruments of the present invention are not limited to mouthpieces, and may be applied to, for example, barrels. The barrel 4A illustrated in FIG. 10 has the same external shape as a conventional barrel, that is, it has an annular cylindrical wall portion 20. In the cylindrical wall portion 20 constituting the barrel 4A, similar to the mouthpiece 3 of the above-described embodiment, an inner wall 21 constituting the inner cylindrical surface 20a of the cylindrical wall portion 20, an outer wall 22 constituting the outer cylindrical surface 20b of the cylindrical wall portion 20, and an infill pattern 23 formed in a space S2 between the inner wall 21 and the outer wall 22 are provided. The infill pattern 23 shown in FIG. 10 includes a plurality of columnar protrusions 231 whose both ends are connected to the inner surface 21a of the inner wall 21 and the inner surface 22a of the outer wall 22, similar to the above-described embodiment. Even the barrel 4A illustrated in FIG. 10 exhibits the same effects as the mouthpiece 3 of the above-described embodiment.

[0031] In the present invention, the cylindrical wall portion having an inner wall, an outer wall, and an infill pattern is not limited to parts for wind instruments such as the mouthpiece 3 and the barrel 4A, and may be applied to components of the wind instrument body 2 such as the upper tube 2A, the lower tube 2B, and the bell portion 2C. That is, components such as the upper tube 2A, the lower tube 2B, and the bell portion 2C may be parts for wind instruments of the present invention.

[0032] The present invention is applicable not only to the clarinet and alto saxophone illustrated in the above-described embodiment, but also to any woodwind instrument. Further, the present invention is applicable not only to woodwind instruments, but also to any wind instrument such as a brass instrument.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0033] 1... Wind instrument, 2... Wind instrument body, 3... Mouthpiece (part for wind instrument), 4... Barrel, 4A... Barrel (part for wind instrument), 10, 20... Cylindrical wall portion, 10a, 20a... Inner cylindrical surface, 10b, 20b... Outer cylindrical surface, 11, 21... Inner wall, 11a, 21a... Inner surface, 12, 22... Outer wall, 12a, 22a... Inner surface, 13, 23... Infill pattern, 14... Lamination mark, 131, 231... Protrusion, S1, S2... Space

Claims

1. having a cylindrical wall portion, a wind instrument part provided with, on at least a part of the cylindrical wall portion, an inner wall constituting an inner cylindrical surface of the cylindrical wall portion, an outer wall constituting an outer cylindrical surface of the cylindrical wall portion and spaced apart from the inner wall in the thickness direction of the cylindrical wall portion, and an infill pattern formed between the inner wall and the outer wall.

2. The wind instrument part according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical wall portion including the infill pattern is formed in a laminated structure.

3. The wind instrument part according to claim 2, which is produced by a 3D printer.

4. The wind instrument part according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the infill pattern includes protrusions protruding from at least one of the inner surfaces of the inner wall and the outer wall facing each other.

5. The wind instrument part according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is a mouthpiece or a barrel.

6. A wind instrument comprising a wind instrument body and the wind instrument part according to any one of claims 1 to 3 attached to the wind instrument body.

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