Marguerite JOSSIC

My research is organised around several projects, here are a few of them:

Impact of instrument-making techniques and hammering on the microstructure and the mechanical and acoustic properties of high-tin gongs

Partners: Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine, Université Saint Quentin en Yvelines, C2RMF (Paris), ICMMO (Université Paris-Saclay), Laboratoire Sciences Techniques de la Musique et du Son (IRCAM-Sorbonne Universités Paris)

This project is the subject of a PhD thesis (César Dolomosne) and aims to study the impact of the instrument-making stages (alloy selection, casting, annealing, quenching) of high-tin gongs on the acoustic properties of these instruments.

3D printing: what prospects for wooden wind instruments from heritage collections?

Partners: Institut Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (Sorbonne Université, Paris)

The hygroscopic stresses generated by playing wooden wind instruments can lead to deformations and fractures of the wood under mechanosorptive stress. Faced with this finding, and wishing to explore new approaches that promote the dissemination of historical and musical knowledge, the musée de la musique has undertaken the production of a 3D-printed “facsimile” of the traverso E.999.6.1 attributed to Hotteterre dit le Romain (between 1707 and 1727). By exploring modern copying techniques, this reflection engages museums but also musicians, musicologists, and researchers on the conditions of a historically informed musical practice. The aim here is not only to materially produce a “facsimile,” but also to assess the degree of fidelity of this “facsimile” to its original, particularly with regard to its sonic and musical qualities.

“Plan de Numérisation et Valorisation” and “Synthèse Sonore des Instruments de Musique du Patrimoine” (PNV SySIMPa)

Partners: Institut Technologique Européen des Métiers de la Musique, INRIA, C2RMF

A large number of heritage wind instruments cannot be played due to the threat posed by the moisture induced by the player’s breath. The Besson collection of the Musée de la Musique contains around 9,000 paper documents, including 150 technical drawings of instruments, as well as 27 period trumpets. The SySIMPa project aims to address the twofold question of showcasing this unique documentary collection to craftspeople, musicians, and the general public, and of the relevance of using sound synthesis as an exploration tool, both to formulate organological hypotheses about wind instruments and to make heard heritage instruments which, due to their fragility, cannot be played. The project, supported by the DRAC des Pays de la Loire and the Ministère de la Culture, brings together the Cité de la Musique-Philharmonie de Paris, the Institut Technologique Européen des Métiers de la Musique (ITEMM), the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France (C2RMF), and the Mission des Métiers d’Art en Pays de la Loire.

Project website

VibCons project (Vibrations and conservation)

Partners: Institut National du Patrimoine, Fondation des Sciences du Patrimoine, Laboratoire Sciences Techniques de la Musique et du Son (IRCAM-Sorbonne Universités Paris), Laboratoire SATIE (Cergy-Paris Université), Musée du Louvre, Musée du Quai Branly, Musée des Arts Décoratifs

This resolutely transdisciplinary project aims to examine the impact of vibration sources on the state of conservation of heritage objects. It thus investigates the various vibration sources to which works are subjected (the movement of the public in exhibition spaces, the transport of works, construction work, sound events), with a view to developing recommended protective measures. A prototype active shelf capable of eliminating the vibratory stress experienced by objects in exhibition or storage spaces has been validated (Loïc Forma’s PhD thesis). In the longer term, the project also plans to develop user-friendly, low-cost tools in order to train heritage professionals and give them access to vibration measurement of the works in their collections.

Passive 4D modelling of self-sustained vibrating plates under finite transformations: musical applications to Baschet structures and Martenot wave diffusers

Partners: Collegium Musicae (Sorbonne Universités), Laboratoire Sciences Techniques de la Musique et du Son (IRCAM-Sorbonne Universités Paris), UTT de Troyes

The project is carried out as part of Paul Estève’s PhD thesis and focuses on numerical modelling with a view to sound synthesis of diffusers belonging to two instruments: the cristal Baschet, which features a very thin metal sheet, and the metallic diffuser known as the “gong” of the ondes Martenot. The work aims to propose a model of metallic diffusers which (i) captures the intrinsic nonlinearities responsible for the timbre of the Baschet cristal’s steel sheet and of the ondes Martenot gong, and (ii) respects physical invariants: observer invariance and energy balance for modelling and simulation. These objectives are based on the formalisms of port-Hamiltonian systems and 4D writing, which intrinsically respect spacetime invariants.”