I guess my point in asking those questions was to say
that weather or not we are talking
math/physics/psyco-geography or whatever, The
shakuhachi is a cultural instrument and in a sense
changes when we implement these modern physics or
whatever.
> All of the question you bring up are legitimate, but
> as they are
> not *scientific questions*, and I don't have the
> cultural
> background to answer what are essentially cultural
> questions
> I cannot answer them.
Interesting. The shakuhachi is a cultural
instrument.. Not a scientific one. Im curious as to
why you are into making the shakuhachi 'from a
scientific' standpoint if you have no cultural
background or understanding of it. ( maybe im wrong
and you do.) But if so, Im merely asking you this
because im piqued.
> As far as these pamphlets by price, don't worry if
> they didn't help.
> I can tell you that they are almost worthless, and
> that both
> in style and content that would rank extremely low,
> scientifically speaking.
I didnt know there were pamphlets he wrote but what I
read years ago was a paperback he wrote with about
1000 pages and I disagree, he was prety in-depth about
wind travel in both transverse and end-blown flutes
among other things. His explanations were long and
drawn-out. He wrote out some prety good theories too.
Anyways, Im afraid science and physics can't fully
solve the shakuhachi. Its perfect the way it is, I
think.
Cheers,
Isaac
--- Mark Millonas <millonas@email.arc.nasa.gov> wrote:
> Hi:
>
> All of the question you bring up are legitimate, but
> as they are
> not *scientific questions*, and I don't have the
> cultural
> background to answer what are essentially cultural
> questions
> I cannot answer them.
>
> Although I'm a scientist I also feel irrational
> pleasure
> when I look at and play certain flutes more than
> others. I also feel
> sympathetic vibrations when see objects once owned
> by members of my
> family, gifts made by friends, etc. While these
> feelings make up the
> "stuff-of-life" they are
> are not scientifically quantifiable.
>
> Questions like whether a flute with a particular
> bore plays in tune and with
> certain quantifiable performance characteristics
> *are* scientifically
> answerable and that is
> what we are talking about here. For me an added
> bonus is that exploration of
> those answers mathematically gives me pleasure ---
> also not scientifically
> quantifiable.
> The fact that this mathematical pleasure is not
> easily accessible to everyone
> does not make *that* process of understanding
> illegitimate *either*.
>
> And lew Paxton Price played it from a very
> >scientific standpoint with I though was amuzing for
> a
> >moment ( Being a software engineere).
>
>
> As far as these pamphlets by price, don't worry if
> they didn't help.
> I can tell you that they are almost worthless, and
> that both
> in style and content that would rank extremely low,
> scientifically speaking.
> They actually consistently puff up simple (mostly
> trivial) half-page
> algebra calculations
> into 30 pages of froth. One of the amusing things
> about reading
> the pamphlets is trying to figure out how much of
> the puffery is just that,
> and how much of it Price
> believes himself. I must admit that what little
> pleasure I got out of
> realizing that I had
> just wasted money on some of his pamphlets came from
> execises of this kind.
> Please don't take this as an example of any kind of
> "scientific"
> approach *or*
> of how to explain things to non-mathematically
> inclined people.
>
> Anyway, I'm talking about a whole different level of
> mathematics which
> we would call in physics "starting from first
> principles", that is, by
> solving the acoustic wave equation
> inside the bore. I hope it will be a little bit
> fun. I don't
> believe that I will (at least) have any problems,
> aesthetically, with
> playing an instrument designed in this way.
> For me it would, as I have said, give me great
> pleasure and would further
> stimulate my curiosity.
>
> And that's all I could ever ask for.
>
>
> Marko
>
>
> List subscription information is at:
> http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/listsub.html
=====
____________________________________________________________
Isaac Marshall
Seattle Shakuhachi Society
http://www.megaseattle.com/shakuhachi/
____________________________________________________________
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