|
jeff_hatcher -> RE: Navarro Student 2 Flamenco (Apr. 21 2013 14:13:36)
|
quote:
it may take some 'dating' before they respond properly again :-)
It's true! an instrument that doesn't get played "goes to sleep" (my term for it). I worked for a guy who ran a violin shop when I was younger, who claimed that when an instrument isn't played, numerous small, weak chemical bonds form in the structure of the wood that begin to limit vibration. The longer the instrument sits, the more bonds form. When the instrument is played regularly, these weak bonds break and the wood begins to vibrate more freely. You would notice that when we first got violins into the shop (he had a passion for older violins... usually these old factory made german instruments and sears and robucks models that were rather popular with bluegrass crowd), they would sound stiff and nasally. After playing the instrument for an hour or two, it would dramatically loosen up and start to acquire a more clear, singing, resonant tone. If we played it in for a couple of days, it would kind of hit its peak. Let the instrument sit for a month or so, and the tone would die away again.
Later, as I started taking courses in biochemistry, his theory made more sense. The structure of proteins and other biological molecules are strongly influenced by weak chemical bonds such as van der waals forces, hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions, hydrogen bonds, and polar bonds. These bonds, individually, are not as strong as covalent bonds (atoms sharing valence electrons) or ionic bonds (such as form salt crystals), but by the sheer number that are made stabilize the structure of proteins.
When an instrument sits idle, the wood will seek its lowest energy state (chemically) by formation of these weak bonds (long discussion). As these bonds start to accumulate, the freedom with which the wood can vibrate is limited. The longer the instrument sits unplayed, the more these bonds can accumulate, up until the point where the the lowest energy available in the local environment of these bonds are achieved.
Playing an instrument injects kinetic energy into the structure of the wood, which would disrupt most of these weak bonds. Once broken, it can take time for these bonds to reform, so constant playing keeps the wood "limber".
There has been some research on this topic. I am looking for the original journal articles for this post in the New York Times, but haven't found it yet. The times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/27/science/when-violinists-play-their-violins-improve.html
Some related web articles,journal articles and abstracts:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jsms1963/41/461/41_461_164/_article
http://www.afm.asso.fr/Accueil/Actualit%C3%A9s/tabid/317/ArticleId/381/Viscoelasticity-of-wood-under-humidity-variation-modelling-the-effect-of-transient-hydrogen-bonding.aspxhttp://liutaiomottola.com/myth/played.htm
|
|
|
|
