Recent publications have shown that the tone-to-tone variability of timbre is a characteristic feature of historical flutes and their replica. This can easily be demonstrated by means of recordings with artificially normalized pitch whereby objective analysis verifies the appearance of various spectral types in single instruments. Because historical flutes of the Renaissance and Baroque eras exhibit a simpler design than the modern flute, specific fingering patterns are needed to achieve the full chromatic scale. This technique furthermore enhances the characteristic variation of timbres from tone to tone. Listening to music played according to historically informed performance (HIP) shows that instrument-driven variations of timbre also affect the expression of other classes of historical instruments, such as the cornett and oboe. The natural high variability of timbres from tone to tone appears to also be an essential feature of historical flute music. This applies to recorders, but also to transverse flutes. In this contribution, firstly new findings regarding the timbre variability of alto recorders in Renaissance and Baroque design are presented. In a second step, an examination of the literature addresses the question of how the variability of timbre may be referred to by contemporary musicians, composers, and instrument makers.
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11 September 2022
Fourth Vienna Talk on Music Acoustics
11–14 September 2022
University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria
Musical Acoustics: Session 9 - Timbre & directivity
December 22 2022
How can we approach the topic of the tone-to-tone timbre variability of historical instruments?
Michael Haverkamp
Michael Haverkamp
1
Department of Acoustics, Independent Researcher
, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, 50733, GERMANY
; michael.haverkamp@netcologne.de1
Department of Acoustics, Independent Researcher
, Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, 50733, GERMANY
; michael.haverkamp@netcologne.de
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Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 49, 035005 (2022)
Article history
Received:
October 11 2022
Accepted:
November 08 2022
Citation
Michael Haverkamp; How can we approach the topic of the tone-to-tone timbre variability of historical instruments?. Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 11 September 2022; 49 (1): 035005. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001660
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