In slowly flaring horns the wave fronts can be considered approximately plane and the input impedance can be calculated with the transmission line method (short cones in series). In a rapidly flaring horn the kinetic energy of transverse flow adds to the local inertance, resulting in an effective increase in length when it is located in a pressure node. For low frequencies corrections are available. These fail at higher frequencies when cross-dimensions become comparable to the wavelength, causing resonances in the cross-direction. To investigate this, the pipe radiating in outer space is modelled with a finite difference method. The outer boundaries must be fully absorbing as the walls of an anechoic chamber. To achieve this, Berenger's perfectly matched layer technique is applied. Results are presented for conical horns, they are compared with earlier published investigations on flanges. The input impedance changes when the largest cross-dimension (outer diameter of flange or diameter of the horn end) becomes comparable to half a wavelength. This effect shifts the position of higher modes in the pipe, influencing the conditions for mode locking, important for ease of playing, dynamic range and sound quality.

Reed woodwind instruments differ in both their geometry (mainly cylindrical or mainly conical) and their excitation mechanism (single or double reed). How much of the resulting sound is due to the single/double reed, and how much to the geometry of the instrument? Measurements done by Almeida et al. (J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 121, 1, 536-546, 2007) show that the flow vs pressure characteristic curve of an oboe reed is not that different from that of a clarinet reed, the only difference probably being due to pressure recovery inside the conical staple. Is it possible to make a single reed mouthpiece for an oboe, while keeping the conical staple, that would still give the oboe its characteristic sound? To find it out, a mouthpiece with the following characteristics was made: A standard clarinet Bb reed can be attached to it, its volume is approximately that of the missing part of the instrument cone, and a standard French oboe staple can be inserted to it, so that it can be inserted in the usual way in any french oboe. In this paper, the first prototype of the mouthpiece is shown. Also, a sound comparison of the oboe sounds played with this mouthpiece and a standard double reed by a professional player is presented.