Klarinet Archive - Posting 000156.txt from 1997/05

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Air : amount,speed,presure etc.
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 22:09:17 -0400

>In a message dated 97-05-04 09:21:25 EDT, Cohler writes:
>
><<
> Unfortunately, without the physics and science of music, acoustics and
> clarinet playing we are left with the mythology, which is sometimes right
> and too often wrong.
>
> This is why I keep advocating (to no avail, of course) that the physics of
> music and acoustics should be a required course for all music majors.
>
> For your reading pleasure, below are the excerpts from the original message
> that state the important results of the physics. These are the parts that
> are in relatively plain English.
>
> ---------------
> Jonathan Cohler
> cohler@-----.net
> >>
>
>While your note, Jonathan, about "perceived" loudness was informative and
>correct (I am not familiar with psycho-acoustics so I assume it represents
>the current state of understanding). You should be clear about the fact that
>you are not speaking about physics (what makes something louder is increasing
>amplitude), but you are speaking about epistemology (phenomenology?), or what
>we know about what we perceive. I guess you might call the effects you
>describe "psycho-acoustics"?
>
>Jerry Korten
>NYC

That's why I said "physics and science" above to be more general.
Certainly I covered some elements of physics, acoustics, psychoacoustics,
physiology, and probably a few other areas of science.

And again to be clear, amplitude is not the same thing as loudness. It is
true that if we have a defined sound wave (i.e. we are dealing with a fixed
set of frequency components) and we increase its amplitude that it gets
louder.

But, on the other hand, it is NOT true that because sound wave A has an
amplitude that is larger than sound wave B's then sound wave A is louder.

That is why it is important to distinguish between amplitude and loudness.
And in particular, on the clarinet this is critical, because the loudness
of notes changes dramatically as we get into the upper reaches of the
clarinet where the fundamentals are in the range of approximately 900Hz to
1800Hz and both the second and third partials lie in the region of our
hearing which is especially sensitive. That's why these notes sound so
much louder than lower notes at the same amplitude.

-------------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net

-----------------------
Jonathan Cohler
cohler@-----.net