I didn't think frequency was affected by distance, and I've confirmed this with a little online research. A complex sound may sound lower since high frequencies are attenuated more, but this is an affect on timbre, not pitch.
If there is a pitch difference, it could be position of the hand - if a horn player is standing offstage, he might alter is normal hand position in such a way that tends towards flat. Or it could be some psychological affect - something that makes us want to play lower pitches when away from the group. Maybe we figure we should sound more muffled, and jam our hands in the bell. Or we normally force ourselves up a bit without knowing it, but away from the group, we lose the connection, and go flat. Or the way onstage musicians perceive pitch "at a distance" could be the factor. Seemingly, an easy thing to investigate. Interesting. Curt Austin On May 29, 2011, at 1:47 PM, Dan Beeker wrote: > Surely there must be more to it than "because of the distance". Does > that mean the listener in the back of the auditorium hears things > flatter than the patron in the front row? Loss of higher harmonics due > to stage curtains etc. might make it sound flatter (total conjecture on > my part). Just curious. Any acoustics people out there have an explanation? > > Dan Beeker > > On 5/29/11 1:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> Message: 11 >> Date: Sun, 29 May 2011 16:22:54 +0200 >> From: Hans Pizka<[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [Hornlist] offstage brass >> To: The Horn List<[email protected]> >> Message-ID:<[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII >> >> Bob, welcome in Germany, >> >> the off stage brass sounds flat to the player on stage because of the >> distance. But it is not much. >> So the off stage players adjust the main tuning slide a bit, just a bit >> (1/4" perhaps). >> >> Regards >> >> Hans > > -- > Dan Beeker > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/curtissaustin%40me.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
