Very interesting. May I ask what microphone you used, and if all the strings were damped except the sounding one? Thanks for your work,
dt At 10:33 AM 8/20/2008, you wrote: >In the past, I made several assumptions about the >volume of a lute as it is plucked. > >However, after making real measurements with >a microphone, computer, and sound-card, they >appear possibly false. > >Measurements are presented in this diagram > >http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~ward/structure.jpg > >The horizontal axis is time >The vertical axis is sound volume. >The music in the diagram is a series of >one-voice phrases, played on the second and >third courses of a double-strung lute. > >1. The sound is _not_ loudest immediately after the >pluck, as would seem a natural assumption. Rather, >the peak volume occurs about 1/10 of a second >after the pluck. See the F note in the diagram. > >2. The decay of a note is not always >a simple exponential. See the C note >in the diagram, which has prominent structure >superposed on the exponential decay. Even more >remarkable is the unmarked note >two notes after the A note. > >3. The decay is not uniform from pluck >to pluck. Observe the wide variety >of decay shapes in the diagram. > >4. The sound does not die suddenly when the >string is touched by a finger. Rather, it dies in >about 1/15 of a second. See the A note in the >diagram. > >5. "Legato" playing by a person of my technique >level actually has sizable gaps between the notes. >See the gap between the A note and the following >note. > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
