On 02.2.5 1:16 PM, "Nelson Zink" <zink@newmex.com> wrote:
> 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
>
Nelson,
But the tube resonates as well! Don't you feel it in your hands as you
play? Surely even the technicians must say that the way a tube resonates
will depend on the material it's made out of.
When I play, the shakuhachi totally vibrates. It becomes alive. Not only
the colum of air but the fibers of the bamboo itself are resonating. It's a
very palpable sensation in the hands. Never having played a PVC shakuahchi,
I can't say for sure this wouldn't happen with PVC, but...
Zachary Braverman
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