Acoustics

Aebi, Willi

The inner acoustics of the horn

Study of the horn’s inner acoustics, explaining how its structure and air column influence tone production and intonation.

Mathez, Jean-Pierre

Editorial

Is sound something you control—or something you become? Jean-Pierre Mathez challenges technique, fashion, and pedagogy: sonority is a lifelong conquest of freedom.

Stancil, Daniel D.

Use of a spectral model in developing concepts of tuba timbre

Can great tuba sound be measured? This groundbreaking study turns timbre into data — offering a visual model that could transform how players hear and shape their sound.

Bloch, Colin

The bell-tuning trumpet

Colin Bloch examines bell- and slide-tuned trumpets, comparing intonation patterns through controlled tests and outlining structural causes behind observed deviations.

Poncet, Jacques

On the sensitivity of brass instruments

Cold-hammered hunting horns retain a tactile memory of sound and playing, leading Jacques Poncet to question how brass instruments evolve in use.

Bobo, Roger

Dynamics in the 80's

From Reykjavik to the Hollywood Bowl, rising concert hall scale and amplified culture reshape orchestral sound, leaving acoustic limits exposed.

Stevens, Thomas

Editorial

So your trumpet plays in tune

Keyboard tuning, just intonation and string phrasing place brass players between conflicting pitch systems, as Thomas Stevens outlines practical compromises.

Ferron, Emile

On the sensitivity of brass instruments

Metal, pressure nodes and temperature shifts shape response, timbre and tuning, as Emile Ferron links instrument acoustics to the player’s imprint.

Leuba, Christopher

A study of musical intonation

Resultant tones, harmonic series ratios and chord spacing challenge equal temperament, linking acoustics and practical ensemble intonation.

Leuba, Christopher

A study of musical intonation

From harmonic-series tuning to valve-slide adjustments on the horn, practical listening and resonance become more reliable guides than equal temperament alone.

Ferron, Emile

Harmonics or partials?

Behind every brass note lies a compromise between acoustical theory and instrument design, as E. Ferron questions what players call a harmonic.

Leuba, Christopher

A study of musical intonation

From wind quintets to brass sections, balance, overtones and perception shape intonation in ways that often diverge from measurable frequency.

Ferron, Emile

Instrument Making and the Ear

From hearing physiology to workshop testing, E. Ferron links instrument design, acoustics and perception, where no two ears judge sound in quite the same way.

Goodwin, John

Brass instrument research at Surrey University

Acoustics, materials, bore design, and player perception meet in Surrey research linking laboratory measurements with the realities of brass performance.

Sluchin, Benny

Playing and singing simultaneously on brass instruments

From Weber's Concertino to Berlioz's chord writing, acoustic principles explain how combination tones emerge from simultaneous playing and singing on brass.

Bowsher, J. M. · Watkinson, P. S.

Manufacturers' Opinions about Brass Instruments

Between workshop lore and acoustic certainty, brass makers’ claims expose a restless debate over metal, finish, resonance, and playing quality.

Holland, Jack

An Introduction to "In Tune"

the Scale of Just Intonation

Long before electronic tuners, brass players faced a choice between mathematical order and acoustic truth, with consequences that still shape ensemble playing today.

Gorovoj, Sergej

Science and Technology in Trombone Teaching

What if tone production depended less on instinct than on understanding how the instrument, the lips and the air function as one interconnected system?

Sluchin, Benny

11th International Congress on Acoustics

At the 1983 Paris acoustics congress, brass research moved between factory consistency, vibrating bells, mutes and the elusive mechanics of multiphonics.