  The concept of nonlinear modes is applied in order to analyze the behavior of
a model of woodwind reed instruments. Using a modal expansion of the impedance
of the instrument, and by projecting the equation for the acoustic pressure on
the normal modes of the air column, a system of second order ordinary
differential equations is obtained. The equations are coupled through the
nonlinear relation describing the volume flow of air through the reed channel
in response to the pressure difference across the reed. The system is treated
using an amplitude-phase formulation for nonlinear modes, where the frequency
and damping functions, as well as the invariant manifolds in the phase space,
are unknowns to be determined. The formulation gives, without explicit
integration of the underlying ordinary differential equation, access to the
transient, the limit cycle, its period and stability. The process is
illustrated for a model reduced to three normal modes of the air column.
