Some aspects of the harmonic balance method applied to the clarinet

The clarinet has been extensively studied by various theoretical and experimental techniques. In this paper, the harmonic balance method (HBM), a numerical method mainly working in the frequency domain, has been applied to solve a simple nonlinear clarinet model consisting of a linear exciter (for the reed) nonlinearly coupled to a linear resonator with visco-thermal losses (for the pipe). A recent and improved implementation of the HBM for self-sustained instruments has allowed us to study the model theoretically when including dispersion in the pipe or mass and damping terms in the reed model. The resulting periodic solutions for the internal pressure spectrum and the corresponding playing frequency are shown to align well with previous theoretical and experimental knowledge of the clarinet. Finally, we present and briefly discuss a few (probably unstable) oscillation regimes both with the HBM and with a real clarinet.