The Oboe BBoard

The Oboe BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: Blow-Out

Author: mschmidt
Date: 2005-07-21 21:59

Well, but light coming in through windows is pretty damn obvious. But human sensory perception beyond an "on-off" distinction is much tougher. Does a blown-out oboe make sound? Of course. It is like a clear glass window in that respect.

Perhaps we need to refine our analogy. Does the amount of light transmission through a clear glass window decrease over the years? Well, it probably depends on where the window is and what it gets subjected to. Maybe it gets scratched. Maybe it gets dirty. Maybe if develops f-centers. But if you show me a window with the sun streaming through and ask me if the light transmission has decreased with age, how do I know? If I've been living in the house with the window for years, and I wake up in the morning and see the sun streaming through, is it obvious that the window transmits less? After all, I would've gotten used to the decreased light transmission. I could compare the old window with a new one, but how do I know that the new window is identical to what the old one was like when it was new? That's probably a much safer assumption for windows than for oboes!

And to refine the analogy still further, what if you weren't looking at sun coming through the window, but the light from a homemade light bulb? And what if you had to make new light bulbs every two weeks or so? Out of a vegetable material? If you haven't caught on by now, I mean the light bulb to be the equivalent of the reed.

Give a "plausible explanation" for a phenomenon and people will start to see the phenomenon. "Gee, I've been playing in this orchestra for five years and it just seems harder to get a good sound out, or to stay in tune. It must be 'blow out,' because 'everybody' knows blow-out is real. I have to buy a new instrument! Buying a new instrument is stressful but exciting in some ways. But I *believe* that it's going to help me. I have to readjust to the minor quirks of the new instrument, making reeds just slightly differently, etc. Maybe the differences are due to the fact that the new oboe isn't blown out, but maybe it's due to the fact that the new instrument is just *different.* But it's obviously different, and the new instrument is obviously better, and so I'm happy to believe that my old oboe was just 'blown out.' "

I'm not insisting that blow-out is just a psychological phenomenon, but as it seems to depend to a large extent on subjective sensory evidence, I think we have to consider the possible confounding variables. I'm obviously way too inexperienced to have the sensitivity to sense minor *instrument* changes when I have trouble getting consistent *reeds,* and maybe there are consistent, reproducible changes that are just *obvious* to the professional oboist that I can't imagine discovering. But even professional oboists are human, and humans are incredibly bad at making consistent, impartial judgements. And we are in a poor position to make machine measurements in the case of timbre and intonation unless we can be sure that the reeds and embouchre are completely consistent from one measurement to another--which is very hard if we are trying to measure a phenomenon that takes place over years.

Mike

Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

Blow-Out new

Bill_D

2004-06-21 09:32