Zachary,
> I don't get the controversy. Has anyone ever seriously argued that the
> material something is made of has no effect on the tone that thing will
> produced when struck, blown into, or twanged (is that a word?)?
Sure they have. And here we're talking about aerophones rather than
idiophones, membranaphones or chordophones. I'm no sure it's argued that
material has NO effect but that the effect due to material is vanishingly
small compared to that of geometry and can be compensated for by geometry.
Making it simple, if you were to hear a recording of resonating air in a
tube could you identify the material from which it was constructed? Some
claim without a doubt they could. Such blind tests have been few and don't
come out well for the 'materialists'. That's the controversy.
Nelson
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