Physics Colloquium - Spring 2005 - The Physics of Brass Musical Instruments
Dept of Physics & Astronomy
University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Presents
Professor Brian Holmes
Dept. of Physics, San Jose State University
The Physics of Brass Musical Instruments
It is easy to look on a trumpet as a device to projecting sound into a room. In fact, only a small percentage of the sound in a brass instrument escapes the bell. The rest interacts with the lips, controlling their oscillation. Without this feedback, a brass instrument would be much more difficult to play.
I will build a trumpet to show the acoustical significance of its various parts: the flared bell, the cup-shaped mouthpiece, the conical leadpipe, and the cylindrical mid-section. Although woodwinds use side holes to get different notes, these do not work for brass instruments. I will show why valves (or slides) must be used instead.
In the era before valves, (french) horn players learned to augment their supply of open notes by obstructing the air column with their right hands. Although valves have made this technique obsolete, modern hornists still must keep their hands in the bell. I will show why.
Friday, April 15, 2005
3:10 pm
140 Bennett Hall
Refreshments will follow in Rm. 114, Bennett Hall
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