Unpublished - Knut's Acoustics

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In this page some brief commentarial articles on important issues within bowed-string acoustics will be presented. These are ment to explain in lay-man's terms some of the acoustical fundamentals. The page is expected to be interactive, in the sense that questions from the site visitors should determine its content. Here we shall try to respond to questions of general interest as soon as we can, and then in the form of small articles. Direct short-form Q & A will, however, be placed at the "Discussions" page.

Most of what is presented here is built on Knut's personal experiences as a performer. However, all phenomena are analysed and explained in the light of simple physics and sound acoustical science. Even if you reject some of the ideas at the outset, we urge you to give them a wholehearted try on your instrument before turning them down. What is offered to you here are concepts that have been of tremendous value to Knut both as a performer and a teacher and to his students.




K. Guettler: The Helmholtz motion. A brief introduction to the concept of "Helmholtz string motion".

Overview of what delays the attacks of bowed-string instruments, and what these delays mean in terms of precision and coordination. Appendix on instrument-radiation measurment techniques. Sound examples: Transient examples,  Ricci, Brahms A, Brahms B, Pizz Adagietto, Imprecise pizzicati.

2004: K. Guettler: (In Norwegian) "Noen erfaringer med plassering av kontrabassgruppe i orkestergrav" (Experiences with grouping of the double basses in an orchestra pit).   Report to be used for the acoustics branch of  NTNU, Institute of Electronics, Telecommunication and Acoustics.

Experiences with grouping of the double basses in an orchestra pit (English version).

A few hints on the physical properties of double stops.

Here is a table with the following parameters for commonly used strings of the violin family:
Tuning pitch; Frequency; String length; Mass per unit length; Propagation speed; Transverse impedance; Tension.

This paper gives examples of noise extraction and identification from a few instruments. In each of the examples below, you will hear the instrument's sound with and without noise, and in most cases the noise alone. Sound Ex. 1,  Sound Ex. 2, Sound Ex. 3, Sound Ex. 4, Sound Ex. 5, Sound Ex. 6, Sound Ex. 7, Sound Ex. 8.

This paper discusses different parameters that influence our sensation of "resistance" or "stiffness" of the strings we play, and how the sound is affected.

This paper, written by Anders Buen, discusses the effect of humidity on the violin's body resonances - an aspect that has often been overlooked in acoustical experiments.


 
 
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