MEASUREMENT OF THE EFFECT ON VIOLINS OF AGEING AND PLAYING
This is a report on the first three years of a long-term experiment designed to measure how two very similar violins change with time. After being constructed ‘in parallel,’ one is stored under controlled conditions in a museum and is played infrequently, while the other is played regularly by a professional musician. Vibro-acoustic measurements were performed on the instruments and parts thereof during and after construction. Playing and listening tests by a panel of experienced violinists were conducted at completion, after three years with no adjustment, and then after minor adjustments were made to the played violin only. Panels of players and listeners rated the two violins at all stages, and all results are consistent with the null hypothesis: at present there is no significant preference for either instrument over a range of categories.
On Vibration Sensation and Finger Touch in Stringed Instrument Playing
The vibration levels in four traditional stringed instruments during playing have been investigated, including the double bass, violin, guitar, and the piano. The vibration levels, which were measured at several positions and at different dynamic levels, were evaluated with respect to reported thresholds for detection of vibrotactile stimuli. The results show that the vibration levels are well above threshold for almost all positions on the instruments in normal playing. It is concluded that the perceived vibrations may be of some assistance with regard to intonation in ensemble playing, in particular for the bass instruments. The finger forces exerted when playing the bowed strings, as well as the touch forces in piano playing were studied briefly. It was concluded that the kinesthetic forces perceived in playing may assist the timing in performance.
Piano string excitation V: Spectra for real hammers and strings
New measurements of piano hammer properties are reported, as well as hammer accelerations during impact and resulting string motion on a grand piano. Comparison with extant theory on string–hammer interaction requires discussion of limitations due to: (1) nonlinear mode coupling for finite amplitude, (2) string stiffness and the resulting dispersion, (3) soundboard admittance, (4) finite hammer width, and (5) nonlinearity in the hammer. Items (1) and (4) are shown to be relatively unimportant for measurements made promptly after striking, while (3) is significant mainly for the uppermost treble octave. Item (2) becomes important above roughly 1 kHz for notes at the bass end, 5 kHz in midrange, and 10 kHz at the treble end. Item (5) is the most important limitation, and leads us to consider either using an ‘‘effective compliance’’ to obtain an approximate spectrum or performing numerical integrations to handle the nonlinearity. With these limitations in mind, an examination is made of how well the theory c...