INTRODUCTION
Wood may never be replaced as the
material of choice for violins, and there
may never be a more appropriate material
than brass for constructing trumpets
and horns. Still, instrument makers use
materials as a way to differentiate their
products from others, and even traditional
craftspeople have been known to
tinker with advanced materials for better
sound quality—if only in the details of
an instrument.
While materials selection plays a role
in all instrument production, the extent
of a material’s effect on the sound varies
from one instrument to the next.
“In some instances, the material is
directly involved in sound generation,
while in other instruments, this is not the
case,” said Gregor Widholm of the University
of Music and Performing Arts in
Vienna. “For the violin, the material is
extremely important, because the body
generates the sound that we hear. The
other extreme is the clarinet, where the
air column inside generates the sound and the material is only needed to form
the shape of the air column. In this case,
you can take any material.”
From wind instruments to violins,
scientists and musical instrument makers
continue to test the use of traditional
materials, while looking for ways to
integrate new ones.
DOES METAL MATTER?
Materials are a hot topic in brass musical
instruments: not so much because of
scientific advances and innovations, but
for quite the opposite reason. The debate
is over whether the metal used plays any
role in the sound of the instrument at all.
The role of metals in brass instruments
and flutes is a subject of considerable
debate among instrument makers and
players.
|
SHEDDING LIGHT ON LESSER-KNOWN INSTRUMENT
MAKERS
|
Sabine Klaus has a unique goal: she hopes to shed light on some of the forgotten
instrument makers of history to give a more complete view of the field as a whole. In
contrast to Stradivari and del Gesù, whose work is still revered and imitated today, many
smaller or less famous instrument makers have faded away. Klaus, who is the Joe and
Joella Utley Curator of Brass Instruments at the U.S. National Music Museum at the
University of South Dakota, has made it a point to try to track down the origins of many
items in the museum’s collection and to shed some light on their creators.
Klaus has written a series of articles on lesser known figures in the history of musical
instrument making, among them William Lander, a brazier living in Mere, Wiltshire from
1763–1843. Although Lander was not particularly influential or innovative in his designs,
he left behind two key artifacts that provide a look into the work of an average instrument
maker of the time: a serpentine horn housed in the National Music Museum’s collection
(Figure A) and two handwritten notebooks that provide drawings, measurements, and
notes from the brazier on his instrument designs.
“What I wanted to show is that normal brass makers who make pots and pans were also
involved in instrument making,” said Klaus. “I am rather concerned about trying to pay
attention to minor people who show the whole picture of history. We have a tendency to
pick out the famous people, and I think that this presents a slightly distorted picture of the
world and of history. My work originated almost in every single case from instruments that
we have in our collection. There are some instruments by makers who are either totally
unknown or hardly known at all.”
Lander then is important, in that he represents many small brass makers whose works
and notes did not survive.
“It was rather special that all of his thoughts are preserved in these notebooks,” said
Klaus. “It gave us a glimpse into how a fairly rural instrument maker would get his sources
and his inspiration.”
The horn, known as the serpent, stands out
as an unusual-looking instrument today, but,
in Lander’s time, it was a fairly common brass
instrument used in church music and usually
accompanied simple hymn singing. Around
the bell of the instrument, the signature “WM.
LANDER MAKER, MERE, WILTS.” is
inscribed, ensuring that this simple brassmaker’s
work will be remembered.
Lander is one of many instrument makers
represented in the National Music Museum’s
collection, which can be viewed on-line at www.usd.edu/smm/.
|
There is, obviously, a significant price
difference between instruments made of
valuable metals and those made of less
expensive materials. But is there a difference
in the sound? That’s what some
researchers have set out to determine.
In Austria, Widholm conducted a study
to learn the effect of different metals on
the sound of flutes, while in the United
Kingdom, Richard Smith has conducted
tests to determine if different materials
yield different sounds in trombones.
Testing Precious-Metal Flutes
Widholm, who established the Institut
für Wiener Klangstil (IWK) at the University
of Music and Performing Arts
in Vienna in 1980, conducts applied
research in the field of musical acoustics,
with a focus on the particular sound
characteristics of the Viennese playing tradition. The institute credits Widholm
with founding the scientific research
field of musical acoustics in Austria
by adapting scientific physical measuring
methods to the investigation of the
functionality of musical instruments.
In recent years, Widholm and his colleagues
set out to provide a final answer
to the question of whether materials
make a difference in sound quality—and
to determine if it is worth spending
$150,000 on a 24 kt gold flute or if a
$3,500 silver-coated model will do the
job just as well.
In the study, Widholm and his colleagues
chose seven identical flutes made
by a single manufacturer, Muramatsu, in
seven different materials: silver coated,
full silver, 9 kt gold, 14 kt gold, 24 kt
gold, platinum coated, and all-platinum.
Seven professional flute players from
Viennese orchestras were recruited to
test the flutes by playing short solo pieces
and individual notes on each of the seven
flutes. These results were recorded and
analyzed by IWK researchers, and the
professionals listened to the results.
What they found was that
the instrument being played had little
effect on the sound.
“Silver, 24 kt gold, and platinum all
have different vibrating properties, of
course, but the musician can mask all
these properties by generating the
sound,” said Widholm. “That’s the reason
why there’s really no difference between
the $3,500 flute and the $150,000 flute.
We conducted these tests with professional flute players, and when they heard
the samples recorded, they heard no
difference. There are some notes where
you can hear slight variations, but in
general, there was no difference.”
These tests measured the dynamic
range of the instrument—that is, how
loud or soft the musician can play. The
platinum flute provided a slightly higher
dynamic range, but, while measurable,
it was not significant. The difference
between musicians varied more than
between instruments.
“The musician can create their own
personal sound with any flute,” said
Widholm.
An Experiment in Brass
Unlike many instrument makers, who
start out as musicians, Richard Smith
began as a scientist, receiving masters
and Ph.D. degrees in acoustics. His
doctoral research dealt with the application
of quantum physics to musical
instruments.
Now, Smith uses his scientific background
to manufacture brass instruments
with high sound quality at his own company,
SmithWatkins, where he designs
instruments with trumpet player Derek
Watkins. Recently, SmithWatkins cornets
were selected over ten other top
manufacturers as the instrument of
choice for the U.K. Royal Air Force.
“Opinions on the matter of the contribution
to musical quality made by the
walls of wind instruments are diverse
and certainly not lacking,” Smith wrote
in “The Effect of Material in Brass
Instruments,” an article that appeared in
the Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics
in 1986. “They range from those of
the staid scientist who refuses to consider
that the walls could have any effect at
all, to those of the misguided musician
who proposes pseudo-scientific theories
of sound production.”
Like Widholm, Smith has also put
instruments to scientific tests to determine
if varying the material of an instrument
will change its sound. Smith
conducted an experiment using several
trombone bells of various materials and
thicknesses. Although holographic measurements
show differences in the vibration
for the various thicknesses of material,
Smith found that not one of the
professional trombone players in his
study was able to tell the difference either between different types of material or
different thicknesses of material in the
bell of the trombone.
Internal shape is important to the
sound, bell shape is important, and the
lead pipes are important, according to
Smith.
“Materials are really just the icing on
top,” he said. “I don’t worry too much
about materials.”
For trombones, trumpets, and horns,
the materials issues really have not
changed in years. For Smith, brass is still
best.
“It’s all about what material is easiest
to work with,” said Smith. “Brass is ideal
because it’s malleable.”
While the body material will likely
stay the same, there is room for materials
innovations in some of the instrument’s
smaller pieces. For example,
Smith would like to see a materials redesign
of trumpet valves to make them
faster. Using lighter weight materials in
the valves, such as magnesium or titanium,
could be the solution, he suggested.
A new challenge has been offered for
materials science.
Instruments are Like Golf Clubs . . .
If specific metals have not proven to
make much difference in the sound of
metallic instruments, why select one
material over another? Some manufacturers
use materials as a marketing device
to differentiate themselves from competitors.
For others, it is simply a way
to offer musicians more choice.
“There is, of course, a psychological
effect,” said Widholm. “If you have a
perfect instrument made out of silver
that cost $10,000 and then you got a 24
kt gold flute for $120,000, maybe you
would play the gold instrument in a
slightly different way.”
Elizabeth Holm, a materials scientist
and amateur musician, compares it to
the golf club industry, where new clubs
made of better materials are introduced
every year, claiming to improve your
game.
“There’s a strong placebo effect. If
you have more confidence in your clubs,
doesn’t it make you play a little better,
at least for a while?” she said. “I don’t
know; I’ve never measured it. But it’s
the same with music.”
VIOLINS: OPPORTUNITIES
FOR INNOVATION IN AN OLD TRADE
In the 1700s, violins enjoyed a golden
age that modern-day violin-makers, or
luthiers, are still trying to recapture. The
works of Italian makers like Antonio
Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri (“del
Gesù”) are largely still considered to be
the ideal forms of the instrument, and
many of the most popular instruments
today are based on these designs.
“They have historic status. They have
the glamour associated with some of the
famous players who have used them over
the last few hundred years. They tend to
be passed down from player to player
and collect stories,” said Joseph Curtin,
a luthier in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Also,
they’re beautiful objects; the way time
has changed their look can be very, very
beautiful.”
Curtin has created replicas of both
del Gesù and Stradivari violins, but he
also spends a considerable amount of
time experimenting with new ways of
making violins and violas, particularly
to reduce their weight. His experimental
work earned him a $500,000 MacArthur
fellowship in 2005, which recognizes
exceptional creativity and promise for
important future advances.
“In a sense, the standard of a violin,
at least in the popular mind, was the
Stradivarius,” said Curtin. “But it’s not
logically possible to have innovation if
you already have a model.”
So Curtin began by considering how
to make small changes to the violin, for
example, by using the same basic form,
but making the instrument just a little bit
louder. If he could do that, then what else
could be changed? “You quickly start to
see that the violin is rife with unresolved
design issues,” he said.
Curtin is not alone in questioning
the instrument’s design. The Catgut
Acoustical Society, a branch of the Violin
Society of America, provides a forum for
instrument makers like Curtin to discuss
the application of scientific principles
to the construction of instruments in
the violin family. A fellow member of
the Catgut group is Douglas Martin, a
builder of rowing shells by trade who
also experiments with new designs for
the violin in his spare time.
Though they have very different professional
backgrounds, both Curtin and
Martin have experimented with carbon
fiber and light weight woods.
Artisans and Boat-Builders
Experiment with Materials
A co-founder of the Maine-based company
Echo Rowing, Martin has gained
experience working with carbon fiber to
create both rowing shells and oars. The
high stiffness of carbon fiber composite
and greater density in comparison to
wood allowed him to produce an oar
shaft of greatly reduced cross section
for lower wind resistance.
“To me, the big issue is that new
materials allow us to push design and performance,”
said Martin. “I made several
fairly traditionally shaped violins with
layers of carbon fiber laid into a mold
with epoxy. I didn’t find that to be terribly
promising since such simple laminates
are very stiff and dense. If it’s going to
be graphite, I’d rather see a really wild
design that fully exploits the material.”
Curtin also spent some time experimenting
with carbon fiber for violins
but found the material inconvenient to
work with for a number of reasons. It
is expensive, it has to be stored in the
freezer, and the luthier has to determine
the exact shape of the instrument from
the beginning. With wood, once the basic
shape is carved, the violin maker can
shave off a bit of wood here and trim a
bit there to achieve the desired sound.
But with carbon fiber, the material is
molded. Once shaped, nothing can be
done to change it.
“I realized I could do everything I was
trying to do with carbon fiber more easily,
less expensively, and arguably with a
better appearance by laminating spruce
over very light cores, such as balsa,” said
Curtin, who adds that once he sees how
far he can go with wood, he may give
carbon fiber another look. Some luthiers
do continue to work with carbon fiber,
and composite violins are currently on
the market from a few companies.
Like Curtin, Martin has also returned
to wood and lately has constructed violins
made almost entirely of balsa wood.
Unlike the composite molds, the balsa
violins allow him to learn a lot about
instrument-making very quickly—just
as engineering students often use balsa
wood to build experimental models. It’s
also easier to work with balsa at your
kitchen table than with composites,
Martin points out. But his interest in
experimenting with new materials has
not yet ended.
“One thing I want to try is something
like the space shuttle tile. It’s a ceramic
foam with very low density and it
wouldn’t be sensitive to small temperature
changes. It should be very stable,”
he said. “I’d love to get my hands on
those.”
Though he hasn’t run across the ideal
material yet, Martin believes it would
resemble a crispy waffl e cookie, since
the spruce wood typically used for violins
has a crunchy consistency.
“If someone with infinite knowledge
made a synthetic instrument right now,
it wouldn’t really be that much stronger
than a wood one,” said Martin. But it
could be lighter in weight or less susceptible
to warping. “It would have to
have that delicate crunchiness to get the
proper vibrational properties.”
A Place for Material Advances: One
Materials Scientist’s Perspective
Though carbon fiber won’t replace
wood anytime soon in the body of the
violin, it is finding use in violin accessories.
While the basic instrument design
may be viewed as sacred by some, there
is room for innovation in accessories.
Elizabeth Holm, a materials scientist
at Sandia National Laboratory, plays
violin in her spare time and has come
across a number of high-tech materials
being integrated, in smaller ways, into
parts associated with the violin—most
notably in the bow.
Traditionally, Pernambuco wood, a
tropical hardwood from Brazil, has been
the primary source of violin bows. The
tree is now endangered, prompting bow
makers to try out new materials.
“Much as with any materials problem,
it need not be the technical issue that’s
important, it can be the supply issue,”
said Holm. “And here Pernambuco has
become hard to get and very expensive,
so we have to find something else. And
one of the answers has been carbon fiber
composite bows.”
Holm, who primarily plays Irish
folk music on her violin, owns several
carbon fiber bows and has found that this
substitute material can make sturdier,
lighter-weight bows that are not prone
to warping like wooden bows.
“That is one of the most important
things in a bow,” said Holm. “Once it
warps, it loses most of its value to the
musician. The carbon fiber bows aren’t
susceptible to that.”
From a consumer perspective, the
bows are often less expensive and more
uniform, meaning that if a musician finds
a bow that they like, they can go back to
that manufacturer and purchase the same
model, knowing that it will be the same
product.
Holm also found that changing the
material used on another very small
piece of the instrument led to vast
improvements in sound. The tailpiece of
a violin—the piece that holds the violin
strings at the base of the instrument—is
connected to a button on the bottom of the
violin by a piece of string. Holm found
that the material used for this small loop
of connecting string made a noticeable
difference in the overall quality of sound
from the instrument.
“Being a materials addict, I read about
the Harmonie tailpiece, which advertises
that it is one of the lightest around,” she
said. “It is made of ebony, but it has
carbon fiber screws—tuners—to hold
the strings. I thought that was cool, and
I couldn’t resist ordering.”
Traditionally, the string that connects
the tailpiece to the button is a stiff metal
wire coated with plastic, but the Harmonie
tailpiece came with a Kevlar string.
Holm noticed an immediate improvement
in sound from the new tailpiece.
Even more surprising, she found that,
when using the Kevlar string with an
old tailpiece, the sound improvement
was nearly the same as when she had
replaced the whole tailpiece.
“This is Kevlar, the bullet-proof vest
material, and it’s a high-tech material
being used in a different way,” said Holm.
“It has high elastic modulus, but it’s
not thick and stiff. It acts like a piece of
string in terms of tying the tailpiece on.
Interestingly, in the old days, tailpieces
were tied on to the button with a piece of
gut, which was much more streamlined.
It wasn’t until the 20th century that we
moved to these stiffer metal wires that
are more bulky and less flexible.”
Anything Goes for Electric Violins
For the most part, violins depend on
material and structure to create their
sound, but there is an exception: the
electric violin.
“You’re not relying so much on the
shape and resonance of the body of the
violin because you are directly amplifying
the sound, the vibrations of the
strings,” said Holm. “Anything goes with
materials: there’s machined aluminum,
there’s Lucite, there’s various molded
plastic, and so on. You can pretty much
abandon, when you go to electric violins,
the traditional shape of a violin and the
traditional body.”
Ted Brewer Violins, a U.K.-based
producer of electric violins, has a line
of instruments made from polymers that
bear little resemblance to a traditional
violin. Here, material is generally unimportant
to the sound, but Brewer does
note the importance of material in the
instrument’s bridge.
“The Vivo2 uses a carbon fiber bridge
as this material transmits the true sound,” said Brewer.
For the chin rest and fingerboard on the Vivo2, Brewer prefers ebony
because these components are readily
available and cost effective for that instrument.
The Vivo2 also uses an aluminum
tailpiece, while other violins in Brewer’s
collection use acrylic throughout their
construction, including the fingerboard,
tailpiece, and chin rest.
“There are no restrictions on materials
used in building electric violins, but as
weight is a major factor, choice must be
made with this in mind,” he said.
And, in the end, it’s not always about
science. The choice of material in a
musical instrument sometimes comes
down to one important factor: looks.
Brewer’s violins come in a range of
colors and are outfitted with light-emitting
diodes for illuminated playing.
“For aesthetics, materials play an
important role,” said Brewer. “If the
violins look great, they will sell well.”
Kelly Roncone Zappas is news editor for JOM.
|
Presenting a Web-Enhanced 
