CAS JOURNAL In This Issue: " DOWN HOME LUTHERIE 111 " DIRECTIVITY PATTERNS " INNOVATION IN VIOLINMAKING " ON THE ACOUSTICS OF THE VIOLIN " E STRING WHISTLES Catgut Acoustical Society To increase and diffuse the knowledge of musical acoustics and to promote construction offine stringed instruments Vol. 3, No. 7 (Series II) May 1999 To our Readers... This issue ofthe CAS Journal is being published without the guiding hand of its former Editor A. Thomas King, who has indi- cated that he wants to spend more time making violins and less time writing about it. It is a choice all of us can well under- stand, and we look forward to some great instruments coming out of his shop. Tom has done an outstanding job of rejuvenating the CAS Journal and in attracting two Associate Editors of eminent stature. Less visible but equally important was his initiation of desktop publishing, which brought flexibility and shorter leadtimes to the more mundane aspects of semi-annual production. With considerable personal effort Tom has put theJournal on a new footing; he has our sincere gratitude and we wish him well. The departure of our Editor occasioned a review of the direction and positioning of the Journal. We serve two distinct audi- ences: makers and scientists, — and to some ofour friends that dichotomy at times has seemed the Journal's undoing. It also is its strength: there is no other publication that attempts, issue after issue, to report and translate scientific findings into prac- tical guidelines for the stringed instrument maker. We will need to get better at that process of translation: we know that for many the Journal is often still too technical. We will be grateful for suggestions, such as those of John Soloninka (November 1998 issue). We are not merely interested in publishing end-products ofresearch. There is also a need to provide all those engaged in this wonderful business ofexploring the secrets ofsound a greaterawareness ofprojects that are ongoing or maystill be in the plan- ning stage. George Bissinger's article in the November 1998 issue is an example. We intend to be activist, by fostering new research and helping to create newopportunities for collaboration. Our only constraint will be a healthy dose ofpeer-review, which has served us well in preserving the credibility of the CAS Journal and which forms the basis for Editorial discretion. We are most fortunate to have Dr. Robert Schumacher and Gregg Alf as Associate Editors. Each is a highly respected leader in his field.Pending the appointment of a new Editor, and even thereafter, they will need the help and support of us all. Specificallythey need to be alerted to work being done in the various corners ofour musical acoustics world, which might even- tually lead to an article in this Journal. A simple note will do the trick! This May 1999 Issue contains the usual mix of technical and maker-oriented articles. We trust you will find it of interest. The CAS Journal is published twice a year by the Catgut Acoustical Society Inc., a non-profit organizationwhich aims to increase and diffuse knowledge of musical acoustics and to promote the construction of fine stringed instruments. The annual fee for membership in the Catgut Acoustical Society is ndividuals 50.00 Institutions US$ 75.00 Students US$ 50.005( (for two years) An additional postage & handling charge of US$ 10.00 applies to memberships outside the USA. CAS Journal back issues are available to CAS members only. Reprints of specific articles are availableto all interested parties For membership, back-issues andreprints contact the CAS 112 Essex Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey 07042, USA. Tel: 973.744.4029 (Thursdays only) Fax: 973.744.9197 Website: www.marymt.edu/~cas E-mail: [email protected] US$ Office, CAS JOURNAL May 1999 Vol. 3, No. 7 (Series II) The Catgut Acoustical Society is known for pioneer research in acoustical principles and the application of these principles to the making of fine stringed instruments, including the Violin Octet. To fulfill its mission, the Society supports publications, meetings for researchers and makers, musical compositions, lectures, and concerts. DOWN-HOME LUTHERIE A III: Loudness History of a Page 2 5 Newborn Cello Carolyn W. Field Associate Editors Directivity Patterns of Acoustic Page 3 Gregg T. Alf Radiation from Bowed Violins ([email protected]) 9 by Lily M. Wang and Robert T. Schumacher Courtney B. Burroughs ([email protected]) : '- a*' 7■*-* ■; ,, ; * 333. : ... *» -: -" - : Page 34 Managing Editor Innovation in Violinmaking Elizabeth McGilvray 18 by Joseph Curtin Editoriol Advisory Board Daniel W Haines Page 40 Carleen M. Hutchins On the Acoustics of the A. Thomas King Violin: Bridge or Body Hill John T. Randerson 23 by Erik V. Jansson and Oliver E. Rodgers Benedykt K. Niewczyk Page 42 E String Whistles 28 by Bruce Stough Page 44 CAS Journal (ISSN 0882-2212) is published semi-annually by the Catgut Acoustical Society, Inc., 112 Essex Avenue, Montclair, NewJersey 07042. Neither the Society nor the Journal's editorial staff is responsible for facts and opinions expressed in articles or other materials contained in the Journal. Copyright 1999 ' -7 *, ;;:.:, ; Carolyn W Field is a graduate of Swarthmore College (BA 1948) and the University of Houston (MA 1973). She worked as a student andthen colleague of Carleen Hutchins between 1977 and 1989. Since 1980 she has made stringed instruments in her shop in Oak Ridge. She is in the process of completing instrument numbers 25-28. Courtney B. Burroughs is an Associate Professor of Acoustics in the Graduate Program in Acoustics at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include the acoustics of musical instruments, architectural acoustics, structural acoustics and transportation acoustics. Lily Wang recently completed her PhD studying the sound radiation mechanism from bowed violins at the Pennsylvania State University Graduate Program in Acoustics. She is currently pursuing postdoctoral research on architectural acoustics at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby, under the 1998-99 Acoustical Society of America Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship. Joseph Curtin studied music and philosophy at the University of Toronto before becoming a violinmaker under the guidance of Otto Erdesz. He specializes in building new violins and violas, as well as collaborating with the University of Michigan physicist Gabriel Weinreich on various research papers. Erik V Jansson is Associate Professor of Musical Acoustics at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. After receiving his PhD, he spent a year as a research assistant at Case Western Reserve University, where he worked with Arthur Benade. In cooperation with N. E. Molin, Jansson has recorded vibration modes of the violin body and developed practical material tests with wooden blanks. Major papers can be found in the books Benchmark Papers in Acoustics (1975) and Research Papers in Violin Acoustics (1993). Benedykt K. Niewczyk is a fourth generation violinmaker and manager, with his father, of the oldest andlargest musical instrument workshop in Poland. He studied physics at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan with a Polish MSc degree in Applied Physics. Since graduating from the University, he has worked full time making andrepairing iunstruments. Bruce Stough has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis). He is a software engineer for Unisys, and also makes new violins in his own shop. He studied violinmaking with Edward Campbell. Paul R. Laird is Associate Professor of Music History at the University of Kansas. He holds a PhD in Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His article "The Life and Work of Carleen Maley Hutchins" appeared in the Fall 1993 issue of Ars Musica Denver. 2 CASJ Vol. 3, No. 7 (Series II), May 1999 THE BAROQUE DOUBLE BASS VIOLONE ALFRED PLANYAVSKY Dr. Paul Laird University of Kansas 907 Christie Ct Lawrence, KS 66049-4148 of history can be most unset- family or viola da gamba family was the early nineteenth century, after the Studytling. As one learns more about a intended for a particular line of music, viola da gamba had almost completed its subject, gradually peeling back layers of Nowhere is this inspecifity of nomencla- slide into obscurity. The assumed physi- the onion, what once seemed firm truths ture more acute than for the bass instru- cal attributes of the modern orchestral become less clear and new certainties do ments, which, as Planyavsky demon- "string bass" are nothing more than a not always emerge. Alfred Planyavsky strates, were called abewildering array of generalization because, as Planyavsky helps destroy what one might believe is names. What each of these names actu- notes, some have the square shoulders the neat history of the lowest-sounding ally refers to sometimes cannot be and arched back of the violin, string instrument of the modern orches- known, partly because of the paucity of Planyavsky addressed the instrument's tra. He rebuilds part of that history in surviving instruments. Compared to history in detail in his Die Geschichte des this useful book, but other areas (where smaller instruments that are more easily Kontrabaßes (2nd edition, 1984), but an interested reader might desire clarity) protected, precious few large basses sur- felt the need to present its early history in remain murky. This is not really vive, making their history often a matter more detail. Planyavsky's fault because in places of conjecture. A recurrent theme in Planyavsky's available evidence is scanty, but at other Planyavsky calls the object of his his- study is that the term violone referred to times one might wish he took a less tory the "human-sized" bass string a number of different human-sized bass- polemical approach and admitted that instrument, a useful distinction given the es with different tunings and physical evidence is anecdotal.