On 10 Feb 2011, at 13:43, Julia Say wrote: > a small depression could surely catch a sound > wave at a funny angle and cause it to behave in a less than theoretically > perfect > manner
It's really much more like the effect caused by a tiny irregularity in a tooth. It seems massively more important than it actually is. There's absolutely no possibility of "theoretically perfect" behaviour in a woodwind bore, so consequently these insignificant irregularities cannot possibly disturb such perfection. Practically speaking (unless one is unbelievably expert) the factors influencing sound waves in an NSP bore are a good mixture of the laws of Physics and Sod's Law. In varying proportions, obviously. I don't think I've seen Arthur Benade's Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics mentioned in this forum. I certainly can't claim to know it well, or to understand most of it. But I think it is one of the best regarded textbooks on musical acoustics written by a first class scientist who also enjoyed making musical instruments (especially wind) when he wasn't busy with the day job. I'm mentioning this here because it's a book I turn to in curiosity when the behaviour of woodwinds is in question. Francis To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
