The acoustics of the violin: a review

To understand the design and function of the violin requires investigation of a range of scientific questions. This paper presents a review: the relevant physics covers the nonlinear vibration of a bowed string, the vibration of the instrument body, and the consequent sound radiation. Questions of d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reports on progress in physics 2014-11, Vol.77 (11), p.115901-115901
Main Author: Woodhouse, Jim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
Bowing
Discrimination
friction
Nonlinearity
Players
Strings
Vibration
violin
Violins
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Summary:To understand the design and function of the violin requires investigation of a range of scientific questions. This paper presents a review: the relevant physics covers the nonlinear vibration of a bowed string, the vibration of the instrument body, and the consequent sound radiation. Questions of discrimination and preference by listeners and players require additional studies using the techniques of experimental psychology, and these are also touched on in the paper. To address the concerns of players and makers of instruments requires study of the interaction of all these factors, coming together in the concept of 'playability' of an instrument.
ISSN:0034-4885
1361-6633
DOI:10.1088/0034-4885/77/11/115901