Blowing pressures in bassoon, clarinet, oboe and saxophone

Blowing pressures were measured in the mouth cavity of two professional pla yers of each of four reed woodwinds, Bb clarinet, alto saxophone, oboe, and bassoon. The players performed three different tasks: (I) a series of isol ated tones at four dynamic levels, (2) the same series with crescendo-dimin uendo tones and (3) ascending-descending arpeggio sequences played legato a t different dynamic levels. The results show that, within instruments, the players' pressures exhibit similar dependencies of pitch and dynamic levels . Between instruments, clear differences were found with regard to both pre ssure ranges and dependence on pitch.