On 29 May 2011 21:19, <[email protected]> wrote: > > Some things are counter intuitive but are true, despite our experiences. > Einstein is a great example of someone who showed us that. > > The actual physical pitch undoubtedly doesn't change. As has been correctly pointed out, there is no doppler effect. So the appearance of being flat must be an illusion. It is common knowledge that there are optical illusions but fewer people realise that there are auditory illusions as well. The fact is that our ears are not high-quality microphones attached to an expensive Bang & Olufson stereo system. Our ears and brains can be fooled.
There are two obvious ways in which sound characteristics of offstage brass are different from onstage. One is that it is just softer, and the other is that the higher harmonics carry less well the longer distances and through such muffling items as curtains, and so there are fewer high harmoinics by the time the sound reaches the audience. Quite why and by how much this makes the offstage music sound flat is more to to with the way we process the sound in our ears and brains than with the characteristics of the sound itself. It may even be that not everybody senses the offstage sound as being flat - or not to the same degree. I must say that I'n not particularly noticed it, but that may be because offstage players have deliberately played sharp. I don't know. Regards Jonathan West _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
