Klarinet Archive - Posting 000279.txt from 2005/08

From: "Bruce M" <bmcgar@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Testing. Was "Ah, ligatures....Gold vs. Silver"
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:44:38 -0400


I'm inclined not to consider Kevin's experience biased at all. The problem
is the experimental design: he gathered and then interpreted the wrong data
for the hypothesis he really wanted to test. His conclusion was correct, but
the hypothesis wasn't. The hypothesis he wanted to test was, "This change in
equipment will be apparent to someone listening to me play." The hypothesis
he actually tested and drew his conclusions from was, "This change in
equipment will be apparent to me, the player."

Kevin, when he played the instruments, received one set of data: how the
instrument sounded to him--mitigated by bone conduction, multi-modal
transfer of the feel of the instrument in his mouth and in his hands, and
his position in relation to the instrument; that is, close to it and "behind
it," essentially. His wife, who said she couldn't hear a difference, heard
what she heard from an entirely different place, and with no tactile
feedback to muddy things.

It seems perfectly reasonable that Ken could detect differences that his
wife couldn't. He wasn't dreaming: the differences were probably real. The
question is, were those differences moot for anyone but him? Could anyone
but he hear them? His wife's response indicated that they weren't.

That's why I never evaluate how a piece of equipment sounds on the basis of
my own experience playing with it, but always have a knowledgeable and
sensitive person make that evaluation from "out there." Unless that audience
can hear a difference, I don't change equipment unless it just makes playing
easier.

Cheers.

Bruce

>From: ormo2ndtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
>Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>To: klarinet@-----.org
>Subject: RE: [kl] Ah, ligatures....Gold vs. Silver
>Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 10:20:11 -0700
<snip>
>Kevin, with absolutely no criticism intended, this is an ideal example
>of experimental bias because:

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