Klarinet Archive - Posting 000412.txt from 1998/01

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Arthur Benade
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 21:35:37 -0500

Arthur H. Benade's background and accomplishments in acoustics

Physicist Arthur H. Benade (1925-87) earned his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees
at
Washington University in St. Louis. He was a professor at Case
Institute of
Technology/Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, from 1952
to
1987, except for sabbatical time spent at the University of Michigan and
the
Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur. His doctoral work was in
cosmic
rays; for his first 15 years at Case, he pursued nuclear physics and
instrumentation, his declared research area.

Benade's fascination with musical acoustics began long before his formal
studies in physics, and this interest never lagged, though for many
years time
spent on acoustics was forced to be a leisure-time activity. When he
was a
teenager in India, he became curious about the workings of his
grandfather's
piccolo and a six-key flute bought for him in the bazaar by the family's
cook.
His physicist father introduced him quite early to the work of D. C.
Miller,
Lord Rayleigh, and Helmholtz. This background helps to explain the
maturity
already evident in Benade's first published writings on acoustics, which
appeared in 1959 and 1960, more than 20 years after the first
experiments.

The major part of Benade's acoustical research was spent on the
woodwinds and
brasses. He supplemented his more formal knowledge with experience
gained
from playing modern and historical instruments, and he also used
whatever he
could find of the vast informal and anecdotal knowledge that has
traditionally
guided craftsmen and players. His collection of over 130 wind
instruments
helped him trace design changes in winds from the classical era until
the
present. As his understanding grew he tested it via the design,
construction,
and modification of instruments, both woodwinds and brasses.
Instruments and
mouthpieces of his design have been used by leading players and
manufacturers.

Benade's highly original work led to greater understanding of mode
conversion
in flared horns, a realistic yet mathematically tractable model of the
bore of
woodwind instruments based on the acoustics of a lattice of tone holes,
development of the concept of cutoff frequencies for isotropic and
anisotropic
radiation from a woodwind instrument, and clarification of both linear
and
nonlinear processes in musical instruments and their
interrelationships. He
explored the dynamics of musical sound radiation, the transmission
behavior of
sound in rooms, and the nature of auditory perception processes
associated
with hearing in rooms and concert halls. He was the first researcher to
attempt to treat the entire tonal production process in winds as a
single
entity encompassing such things as the influence of the cavities of head
and
chest, the reed and body dynamics of the instrument, the instrument's
radiation patterns, the room's effect on the sound, and the processing
of the
returning sound by the hearing and the brain.

Benade's writings include numerous scientific papers and two books:
Horns,
Strings and Harmony (1960, Doubleday) and Fundamentals of Musical
Acoustics
(1976, Oxford University Press). Corrected reprints of both volumes
have been
issued by Dover Books (FMA in 1990 and HS&H in 1992). He wrote two
articles
for Scientific American magazine and contributed entries to the American
Institute of Physics Encyclopedia of Physics, the New Grove Dictionary
of
Music and Musicians, and the Academic Press Encyclopedia of Physical
Science
and Technology

Benade received the Acoustical Society of America's Silver Medal (for
musical
acoustics) and Gold Medal (for overall excellence in acoustics). He
served as
the Acoustical Society's Vice President and also as chaired its
Technical
Committee on Musical Acoustics. He was a President of the Catgut
Acoustical
Society; a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Pierre Boulez's
Institute pour Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique in Paris
from its
inception until Benade's death from cancer in 1987; and an advisor to
the
Dayton C. Miller Collection of Flutes at the Library of Congress. He
spoke
before many scientific and musical organizations in the USA and Europe,
including giving a series of talks at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music
and
being Plenary Session Lecturer in Musical Acoustics at the 9th
International
Congress on Acoustics in Madrid.

   
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