Arnold Myers

Instruments of the Cyfarthfa Band

The musical instruments in the museum at Cyfarthfa Castle, South Wales, are evidence of the vital role played by the Cyfarthfa Band (1840-ca. 1912) in the evolution of British brass bands. It was particularly notable for its private patronage and its unique tendency to avoid instruments by English makers.

Timbre of marching-band brass instruments

The tone quality of brass instruments for outdoor use has varied from time to time and from place to place. Instruments currently in use can be recorded and analyzed. However, many older instruments, typically those in museum collections, are not allowed to be played. Hence, it is necessary to rely on measurements of physical dimensions and acoustic input impedance to form comparisons. In this paper, such measurements are used to estimate two important timbral parameters: the spectral centroid at moderate playing levels and the brassiness potential. For different instruments of the same pitch, like trumpet and flugelhorn, the spectral centroid gives a measure of the brightness or darkness of the tone. The brassiness potential gives a measure of the degree to which the tone develops a “brassy” edge at high playing levels. As one might expect, the trumpet has both a higher spectral centroid and a higher brassiness potential than the flugelhorn. Results will be shown comparing instruments built in different ...

Serpents on parade

The serpent which was used to accompany plainchant in French churches from the beginning of the seventeenth century was a wooden lip-excited wind instrument with a wide conical bore and six fingerholes. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, the serpent found another role as a bass instrument in civilian and military bands. The traditional form of the church serpent was modified in various different ways to make it more convenient for playing on the march. This paper compares the acoustical and musical properties of the church serpent, the horizontal English military serpent, and several types of upright serpent designed for band use.

Influence of the bell profile of the trombone on sound reflection and radiation

One of the most striking external features of a modern trombone is its wide and rapidly flaring bell. The bore profile of this final section of the instrument influences its musical behaviour in a number of different ways, since it determines both the strength of the acoustical feedback from the instrument to the lips of the player and the nature of the radiated sound field. These effects have been explored in an experimental study in which a number of trombones have been progressively modified by the removal of annular sections of the bells. Measurements of input impedance, transfer function and directivity of radiated sound are presented, and the implications for the timbre and playability of the instruments are discussed.

Musical consequences of nonlinear sound propagation in brass instruments.

More than 20 years ago the pioneering work of Beauchamp showed that nonlinear sound propagation in brass instruments resulted in musically significant modification of the timbre of the radiated sound. Since then it has been demonstrated that nonlinear propagation is responsible for the “brassy” timbre which characterizes the sound of trumpets, trombones, and horns played at very high dynamic levels. It has also been recognized that different subgroups of the brass family can be distinguished by the rate at which nonlinear distortion develops during a crescendo. In this paper measurements are presented of the transfer function between mouthpiece and bell for brass instruments with different minimum pipe diameters and bore profiles, over a range of dynamic levels typical of those used in playing. These measurements are compared with the results of simulations of wave propagation based on weakly nonlinear 1‐D propagation theory in an attempt to clarify the musically significant consequences of nonlinear prop...

Acoustical history of the tuba.

Low‐pitched valved brass wind instruments are often described generically as tubas. In fact, the term “tuba” covers a broad family of instruments, with sounding lengths ranging from the 8 ft C of the classic French orchestral tuba to the 18 ft Bb of the brass band and orchestral contrabass. The first instrument designated as a tuba was introduced in 1835, and since then a variety of models differing in bore profile as well as in nominal pitch have been used. This paper explores the the historical development of the tuba family from an acoustical perspective, presenting and discussing measurements of bore profile and input impedance for a number of representative instruments from different periods and musical traditions.

Acoustics of the Tibetan long trumpet

The Tibetan long trumpet, or dung‐chen, is a metal horn made in several telescoping conical sections. Dung‐chen range in length from around 1.3 to over 3 m; the integral mouthpiece is wide and very shallow. Identical pairs of dung‐chen are used in rituals of Tibetan Buddhism, often in combination with other instruments. This paper describes bore profile and input impedance measurements on a number of examples of the dung‐chen, and compares the acoustical and musical properties of these Asian brass instruments with those of Western European long trumpets and horns.

Scaling of brasswind instruments

Consider two musically similar brasswind instruments pitched an octave apart, like trumpet and trombone. The steady‐state tones of the trumpet, shifted downwards in pitch an octave by playing a recording at half speed, sound very similar to those of the trombone. The bore shape of the trumpet, however, is not a half‐size dimensional replica of that of the trombone. The trumpet bell is about half the size of the trombone bell, but the narrower parts of the trumpet are considerably more than half the diameter of the corresponding parts of the trombone. Acoustic impedance measurements show the Q of air‐column resonances to be similar in both trumpet and trombone. This is consistent with the dimensions of the instruments, combined with the dependence of viscous and thermal damping on tubing diameter and frequency. (Viscous and thermal damping dominate radiation damping throughout the normal playing range.) These observations suggest that a plausible scaling law for a family of brasswinds would preserve the pi...

The acoustical engineering of brasswind instruments 1779–1929

At the start of this 150‐year period, brass musical instruments were made to traditional designs, which were developed by trial and error, the fittest surviving. Mechanical inventions (most importantly the valve) greatly widened the possibilities for bore engineering. Increasingly through this period, instrument designers were influenced by the developing science of acoustics. By 1929 most of the range of instruments in use today had been developed and acoustical tools were in use in optimizing the design of instruments. Considering the factors of greatest importance in determining the acoustical response of a brass instrument to be bore profile, bell flare (cutoff frequency), and mouthpiece geometry, landmarks in the development of existing instrumental types and the creation of new models are surveyed. The contributions of Stoelzel, C.M. Pace, Sax, Bayley, Blaikley, Webster, and Couturier are discussed. This paper is based on research involving direct examination of several hundred instruments from 1779...

Interactive exhibits illustrating wind instrument acoustics

The authors were recently involved in developing demonstration equipment for musical instrument museums. The aim of this project, funded by the European Union, was to provide hands‐on exhibits which would allow the user to explore some of the basic science underlying the operation of string, wind, and percussion instruments. While it is fairly straightforward to devise exhibits in which the user can pluck a guitar string, strike a tubular bell, or bow a violin, considerations of hygiene and the requirement for skilled embouchure techniques make it impossible to expect members of the public to blow demonstration wind instruments. To overcome this limitation, exhibits have been constructed in which a clarinet and a trumpet are played using artificial mouths. The user can adjust a valve controlling the flow of air from a blower to the artificial mouth; a digital manometer monitors the mouth pressure. The note played can be changed by operating a piston on the trumpet, or a key on the clarinet. The signal fro...