Study of the perceived quality of saxophone reeds by a panel of musicians
Abstract
The subjective quality of cane reeds used on saxophones or clarinets may be very different from one reed to another even though the reeds have the same shape and strength. The aim of this work is to study the differences in the subjective quality of reeds, assessed by a panel of musicians. The work focuses mainly on the agreement of the panel of musicians, the reliability of the evaluations and the discrimination power of the panel. A subjective study, involving 10 skilled musicians, was conducted on a set of 20 reeds of the same strength. Three descriptors were assessed: Brightness, Softness, and Global quality. The ratings of the musicians were analyzed using sensory data analysis methods to estimate the agreement between them and the main consensual differences between the reeds. Results show that for Softness and Brightness, the agreement between the musicians is important and that significant differences between the reeds can be observed. For Global quality, the inter-individual differences are more important. The performance of the panel in providing reliable assessments opens the potential for an objectification of the perceived quality.
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