Abstract Detail
Developmental and Structural Section Levings, Katy [1]. The Natural Frequencies of Wood Used in Modern Bassoon Construction. Musical acoustics has a long history of study. Physicists have discounted the part played by material in the overall identifying sound of an instrument. While it is true that the only way to change an instrument’s unique sound is to change the design of the instrument drastically, material does have an effect on the quality of performance (for the bassoon at least) and the subtle coloring of tone discernible to connoisseurs of a specific instrument. The purposes of this study were to determine if specific species used successfully and unsuccessfully in the manufacture of the modern bassoon have a unique natural frequency and if orientation of the wood alters that frequency. Each species was pinged with an impact hammer, and the resulting sound created by the impact was recorded and analyzed. Results show that each species and face does have a unique frequency spectrogram. Broader Impacts:
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1 - University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dept of Forest Sciences, PO Box 72700, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA
Keywords:
frequency
resonance wood
bassoon.
Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Hall A/Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PDS010
Abstract ID:449 | 
