Charles Taylor's 1989 Christmas Lectures 2/5: Essence of Instrument
In his 2nd lecture, Charles Taylor investigates essential features that have to be present in any instrument, if usable musical sound is to be produced. Origin of musical instruments remains mystery. It has been suggested that strings developed from twang of bowstring and wind instruments from pan pipes made from hollow reeds. We shall be more concerned with features that need to be present to produce useable musical sound. Characteristic of simple musical note is regularity of pressure changes and frequency within range of human ears. Most instruments depend on vibration of air in pipes, of tightly stretched strings, of nearly flat plates, or of hollow shapes like bells. We shall start by thinking about how things vibrate, how vibrations start and what effect this has on notes. Pulling cork from bottle makes musical sound, but is very short-lived, how can we make this continuous note? Plucking guitar string makes clearly different sound to bowing violin, even though primary source is stretched string. We shall ask how bowing can feed energy to keep sound going, look at methods of amplifying sound and complications of this amplification. We shall explore all these effects and their consequences for design of instruments, for player and for listener. We shall also begin to look at their consequences for music produced by synthesizers or computers, topic to which we shall return in Lecture V. Timecodes: 00:00 - Origin of Musical Instruments 01:16 - Mechanical Model of Shantu 03:13 - Longitudinal & Transverse Vibration 04:12 - Resonance on Swing 06:12 - John Tindall Experiment 08:02 - Resonance in Xylophone 09:58 - Experiment with Resonator 12:49 - Prolongation of Sounds 13:31 - Experiment with Oscilloscope 14:35 - Harmonics & Overtones 15:23 - Experiment with Heated Gauze 16:28 - Resonance in Tube 16:41 - Early Musical Instruments 17:47 - Energy & Fluctuations 19:39 - Simulation of Fluctuations 23:17 - Harmonics in Strings 24:14 - Power Supply Through Cane 26:02 - Nigerian Instrument of Algeta 26:38 - Krambhorn Features 27:52 - Woodwind Instruments 28:52 - Bagpipe Instruments 29:32 - Reed Experiment 30:56 - Resonance Model 33:37 - Frequency Analyzer 36:22 - Flute Sound Analysis 37:40 - Bagpipe Sound Analysis 38:50 - String Experiment 39:57 - Harmonics & Sound Control 40:52 - Sliding with Stick 41:27 - Properties Brass Rods 44:18 - Principle of Violin Bow 45:17 - Violin Demonstration 46:00 - Main Characteristics 47:57 - Amplifier & Formant 50:30 - Inertia of Musical Instruments 51:30 - Sampling Instruments 52:57 - Explanation of Sound 54:45 - Brass Quartet 56:00 - Results 57:18 - Conclusion Playlists: https://rutube.ru/plst/804000 https://vkvideo.ru/playlist/-235081080_114 #MusicHistory | #CharlesTaylor Original video: https://youtu.be/OOK-j_Y3U_A
In his 2nd lecture, Charles Taylor investigates essential features that have to be present in any instrument, if usable musical sound is to be produced. Origin of musical instruments remains mystery. It has been suggested that strings developed from twang of bowstring and wind instruments from pan pipes made from hollow reeds. We shall be more concerned with features that need to be present to produce useable musical sound. Characteristic of simple musical note is regularity of pressure changes and frequency within range of human ears. Most instruments depend on vibration of air in pipes, of tightly stretched strings, of nearly flat plates, or of hollow shapes like bells. We shall start by thinking about how things vibrate, how vibrations start and what effect this has on notes. Pulling cork from bottle makes musical sound, but is very short-lived, how can we make this continuous note? Plucking guitar string makes clearly different sound to bowing violin, even though primary source is stretched string. We shall ask how bowing can feed energy to keep sound going, look at methods of amplifying sound and complications of this amplification. We shall explore all these effects and their consequences for design of instruments, for player and for listener. We shall also begin to look at their consequences for music produced by synthesizers or computers, topic to which we shall return in Lecture V. Timecodes: 00:00 - Origin of Musical Instruments 01:16 - Mechanical Model of Shantu 03:13 - Longitudinal & Transverse Vibration 04:12 - Resonance on Swing 06:12 - John Tindall Experiment 08:02 - Resonance in Xylophone 09:58 - Experiment with Resonator 12:49 - Prolongation of Sounds 13:31 - Experiment with Oscilloscope 14:35 - Harmonics & Overtones 15:23 - Experiment with Heated Gauze 16:28 - Resonance in Tube 16:41 - Early Musical Instruments 17:47 - Energy & Fluctuations 19:39 - Simulation of Fluctuations 23:17 - Harmonics in Strings 24:14 - Power Supply Through Cane 26:02 - Nigerian Instrument of Algeta 26:38 - Krambhorn Features 27:52 - Woodwind Instruments 28:52 - Bagpipe Instruments 29:32 - Reed Experiment 30:56 - Resonance Model 33:37 - Frequency Analyzer 36:22 - Flute Sound Analysis 37:40 - Bagpipe Sound Analysis 38:50 - String Experiment 39:57 - Harmonics & Sound Control 40:52 - Sliding with Stick 41:27 - Properties Brass Rods 44:18 - Principle of Violin Bow 45:17 - Violin Demonstration 46:00 - Main Characteristics 47:57 - Amplifier & Formant 50:30 - Inertia of Musical Instruments 51:30 - Sampling Instruments 52:57 - Explanation of Sound 54:45 - Brass Quartet 56:00 - Results 57:18 - Conclusion Playlists: https://rutube.ru/plst/804000 https://vkvideo.ru/playlist/-235081080_114 #MusicHistory | #CharlesTaylor Original video: https://youtu.be/OOK-j_Y3U_A