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Re: Reed dimensions and the golden mean

Author: Craig Matovich
Date: 2007-06-06 12:58

For fun:

http://www.brainpop.com/math/numbersandoperators/fibonaccisequence/

I was not thinking about fibonacci in terms of the arrangement of vascular fibers in the cane, although perhaps its there.

Cane following the sun? Hmm... I suspect it at least gives a nod in that direction. Most of the tube cane I buy has a lot of twisted fibers or is arched one way or the other beyond usefullness as a reed. By the pound, most ounces are discarded after splitting in search of the straighter portions. If you use prepared cane most of that distinction will not be evident to you, especially if you buy shaped cane which can hide a multitude of 'sins', at least until you try to make a reed.

Initially, I was intereated in finding if the proportions of good reeds would tend to follow golden mean proportions, meaning from tip to heart to back to total cane length and even perhaps to total finished length.

Fibonacci came to mind because of how the sprial falls around the decreasing rectangles of golden proportion and is easy to visualize in 2 dimensional terms. So, draw a reed on paper and then overlay the spiral to see what I was getting at. This does not begin to address the complexities of reed shapes and their differences or the conical bore and its properties.

Other sequences such as the overtone series might show interesting relationships as well as they relate to reed dimensions.

My interest in seeing wave forms and such is mostly just related to my interest in digital recording where we do find useful data in that perspective on the sound. Then we manipulate EQ and other factors to control the final product. The visualization is another form of feedbcack that takes some of the subjectivity, room acoustics and other bias factors out of the sound, in fact it takes the sound out of the sound at some level. Its just a tool and sometimes useful.

Seeing a tone break down into overtones, where they fall in pitch and how much of the total sound energy they contain (plus perhaps the formant region broken out) to me would be a logical huge next step beyond what our digital tuners provide. Like someone else mentioned about the old days, I started with a tuning fork and lots of good players never knew anything else. But I do believe the digital tuners have contributed greatly to my reed making skills and there are probably more good things ahead.

I drive with a road map, but have a friend who's car talks to her and tells her when and where to turn... interesting device, and it gets her to her destination or back on track if she misses a turn now and then.

So,.... imagine a reed assistent that gently advises to 'please lengthen the back 1/2 mm, dust the heart and trim the tip...' or perhaps, 'may I suggest you now make a staple...'

[toast]