Just a short note. When I lived in N.Y.C. several new concert halls were
constructed. Millions of dollars and teams of acoustical engineers wher=
e
involved. Some of these halls turned out good, but some had lousy acoust=
ics.
Sometimes too much knowledge gets in the way of intuition.
Also, I think that flutes may mellow after one year of more for several
reasons besides playing and the dulling of the mouthpiece and finger hol=
es.
Urushi dries overnight but takes up to a year to fully cure. This might
affect the sound. There's no mistaking an old flute from a new one. The
Japanese have a word for this: Shabui. I don't think we can speed up th=
e
"olding" process and get the same results.
Peter
Reid Reid wrote:
> In order to help resolve this point, here is a quote from "The Physics =
of
> Musical Instruments" (Fletcher and Rossing, 1991):
>
> "The role of acoustical science in this context is an interesting one.
> Centuries of tradition have developed great skill and understanding amo=
ng
> the makers of musical instruments, and they are often aware of subtleti=
es
> which are undetected by modern acoustical instrumentation for lack of
> precise technical criteria for their recognition.... The first and maj=
or
> role of acoustics is therefore to try to understand all the details of =
sound
> production by traditional instruments. This is a really major program,=
and
> indeed it is only within the past few decades that we have achieved eve=
n a
> reasonable understanding of the basic mechanisms determining tone quali=
ty in
> most instruments. In some cases even major features of the sounding
> mechanism itself have only recently been unravelled. This is an
> intellectual exercise of great fascination.... Our understanding of a
> particular area will be reasonably complete only when we know the physi=
cal
> causes of the differences between a fine instrument and one judged to b=
e of
> mediocre quality. Only then may we hope that science can come to the h=
elp
> of music in moving the design or performance of contemporary instrument=
s
> closer to the present ideal." This is from page vi of the Preface.
>
> My original thought in raising the question was to ask whether the roug=
hness
> of bamboo might cause turbulence in the air stream that would affect th=
e
> sound, and whether coatings would therefore change the sound. Peter's
> observation about sound reflecting off different materials was an
> interesting thought that I had not considered.
>
> What was especially interesting in the discussion was how emotional an =
issue
> this is. It seems somehow un-Buddhist to be so attached to the idea of
> material for a flute (but maybe that doesn't matter, although the shaku=
hachi
> seems to be a uniquely Buddhist instrument and that is the only reason =
I
> mention this).
>
> Anyway, I hope the above quote helps to bring balance and resolution.
>
> Cheers
>
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-- Peter Ross
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