Analyse spectrale de différents types de tambours : le tambour circulaire, le tabla et la timbale
This thesis deals with the harmonicity of musical instruments through spectral geometry. First, we present the known results concerning the guitar string, the circular drum and the tabla ; the first is harmonic, the second is not, and the last is somewhere in between. The case of the timpani constitutes the major part of our work. The physicist-engineer Robert E. Davis had already studied its quasi-harmonicity and here we undergo a mathematical proofreading of his approach. By combining analytical and numerical methods, we show that the sound box of the timpani allows an adjustement of the vibration frequencies of the form ω_(i1) , with 1 ≤ i ≤ 5, so that they get close to the ideal 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 ratio, while it also stifles some other dissonant modes. To do so, we develop a simplified model of a cylindrical timpani based on physics and on what Davis suggests in his thesis. This model provides a system of equations divided into three parts : the vibration of the skin and the pressure inside and outside the timpani. We use the method of Green’s functions to find the expressions of the pressures. We use these together with a modified Fourier-Bessel series development to solve the equations of the vibration of the skin. In the end, the solving of these equations is reduced to an infinite matrix system that we analyze numerically. Using Mathematica and this matrix system, we find the vibrational frequencies of the timpani, which allows us to analyze the harmonicity of the instrument. Thanks to a measure of dissonance, we optimize the harmonicity of different timpani models with different cylinder radii, heights and tensions.
Spectral geometry Green’s function Eigenvalue Harmonicity Timpani Tabla Drum Frequency