The Physics of the Violin
Musical instruments are divided into four primary families, determined by the manner of their construction and the way in which they are played. These four groups are named Stringed Instruments, Keyboard Instruments, Wind Instruments, and Instruments of Percussion. The Stringed Instruments can once again be broken down into those in which the strings are plucked, for example the harp or guitar, and those in which the strings are played with a bow, such as the cello or the violin (Abele, p.1). The violin is the most important stringed instrument as it plays a chief role in orchestras and sets the fundamental design and confers its basic principles upon the lower stringed instruments, such as the viola, cello, and double bass. It is the essential and the unique design of the wood, the bridge, and the bow that provide the listener with an exclusive and distinctive sound only a violin can produce. Violinmakers have always paid particular attention to their woods selection and the characteristics of each individual piece of wood. Makers often use different kinds of wood in the different parts of the instrument. They look at important properties such as elastic modulus, acoustic velocity, and acoustic damping (Dunlop, p.37). T
The bow is what I consider the third most inimitable and important part of the violin. The improvements in the bow reached their highest point of perfection a century later than the violin was perfected and both the violin and bow have reached the point beyond which no further betterment is possible (Abele, p.112). W. S. B. Woolhouse, an English mathematician, amateur violinist, and collector once said: he elastic modulus of wood is much stronger along the grain than across it, and also depends on how moist or dry the wood is along with the species of wood (Dunlop, p.38). Acoustic velocity, or the sound speed of a medium, has been measured in a wide range for different woods. Sound traveling along the grain and across the grain have produced dissimilar values with each other and among various woods. Studies show that sound passes through the wood medium at least four times faster along the grain than across the grain (Dunlop, p.38). Acoustic damping can be described as the time required for vibrations to decay. When high frequencies are played, small motions of atoms will generate heat and cause damping. When low frequencies are played, large motions of atoms have a similar effect (Dunlop, p.38). Temperature of the material also affects damping. At low temperatures, the material appears to freeze and consequently the characteristic frequency of the damping mechanisms is increased (Dunlop, p.38). Spruce has been traditionally the chosen wood for almost all instrument soundboards because it's ten times stiffer than other woods, has a high ratio of maximum acoustic velocity to density, and a long decay time (Haines, p.24). The string player has access to four bowing parameters: (1) bow position: the position of the contact point between the bow and string in r
Some common words found in the essay are:
Stringed Instruments, Woolhouse English, , dunlop p38, muller p19, bow string, bow velocity, stringed instruments, bridge bow, acoustic velocity, bow force, frequencies played motions, played motions atoms, dunlop p38 acoustic, grain grain, body violin, wood bridge bow,
Approximate Word count = 1203
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
