Well said!
DG
At 03:46 PM 12/13/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>Well, I live at 5500 ft. where the air is pretty thin and dry and it
>sometimes gets cold in my house. And I've played a variety of
>instruments by different makers of varying quality. But I've
>noticed that by far the most important variable is the quantity (in
>proportion to quality) of practice time I've been putting in lately.
>What a difference that makes... intonation, sound, repertoire...
>you name it, I've noticed that it's much better when I practice.
>Amazing... ;-)
>
>Mark M
>
>On Thu, 13 Dec 2001 12:40:42 -0500 Dan Gutwein wrote:
>
> > I remember from my days as a traveling musician playing
>saxophone and
> > "metal" flute on the road, that when the instruments were cold
>they would
> > play flat. As they warmed up they would go sharper and
>sharper. Since
> > different musicians instruments swell at different rates, the
>ensemble
> > would have a hell of a time playing in tune during the
>temperature
> > transition. That was because the metal had contracted due to
>the
> > cold and
> > therefore the bores were larger. When the instruments
>warmed up, the
> > metal
> > expanded, thus reducing the bore size and the pitch
>increased--not
> > because
> > warm air increases pitch but because the bore was smaller. I
>don't
> > have my
> > acoustics books here at home with me, and I'm not a physics
>of sound
> > specialist, but I'm quite sure that the speed of sound (how fast
>the
> > waves
> > are propagated through the air) and pitch (the wave-lengths)
>are not
> > related. I'm also sure that the speed of sound decreases
>when propagated
> > through moist warm air (like on a lazy summer day) and
>speeds up when
> > propagated through dry cold air. Try this for an experiment.
>Sing a
> > long
> > held tone inside your house at indoor temperature and note
>the pitch,
> > then
> > continue singing and immediately go outside on a cold day
>when the
> > weather
> > is close to freezing and the air is dry and note the pitch. The
>sound
> > travels faster through the cold dry air (that is why walking on
>snow
> > sounds
> > so crisp on frigid days), so the sound should seem as if it is
> > clearer and
> > psychoacoustically louder, but the pitch should stay exactly the
> > same. If
> > wave-length (pitch) and wave-speed (speed of sound) were
>related you
> > would
> > notice a pitch difference in the cold air. This has nothing to do
> > with the
> > fact that warm air from your lungs is propagating the sound,
>since your
> > voice will be heard all over the neighborhood as a result of
>cold air
> > propagating the waves. If you cannot hold a steady pitch, use
>a boom-box
> > or a tuning fork for the test.
> >
> > At 11:31 PM 12/12/2001 +0900, you wrote:
> > >Paul,
> > >
> > > >Perhaps
> > > > this a question which the more physics and acoustics
>literate folk out
> > > > there can shed more light on.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/souspe.htm
>l?tc=40&tf=&v=&vc
> > >=&vm=
> > >
> > >gives the relationship of temperature and speed of sound.
>You need java
> > >enabled. Enter the Centigrade number and then tab to get
>the other
> > values.
> > >
> > >At 10 degrees C (50F) the speed of sound is 337.5 m/s. At
>30C (86F) it's
> > >349.7 m/s--an increase of 3.6 %. The speed of sound is
>directly
> > related to
> > >pitch and any percentage change in speed of sound equals
>the same
> > percentage
> > >change in pitch. 3.6% is a little over a half note difference.
> > >
> > >Nelson Zink
> >
>
>
>
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