Handbook of Materials for Percussion Musical Instruments

Description

This book describes the properties of materials used for making percussion instruments for classical music played by a symphony orchestra in which the instruments could be played as a soloist instrument or as a group or several groups of instruments, as they are included into a musical work. A chapter is devoted to the bells. The scope of this book is primarily confined to percussion instruments of symphony orchestras taking into account the centuries of musical art and tradition. This book bridges the gap in the technical literature on describing the properties of materials for percussion instruments―timpani, other drums, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, gong, cymbal, triangle, celesta, castanets. Preface Contents Part I Percussion Instruments, Their Classification and Their Sound 1 Introduction 1.1 The Background 1.1.1 Description of Percussion Instruments 1.1.2 The Frequency Range of Percussion Instruments 1.1.3 The Layout Plan of Percussion Instruments in a Symphony Orchestra 1.1.4 About the Musical Works Including Percussion Instruments 1.1.5 Summary 1.2 The Purpose of the Book Appendix 1.1 Appendix 1.2 Appendix 1.3 Appendix 1.4 Appendix 1.5 References 2 Organology of Percussion Instruments for the Classic Symphony Orchestra 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 Iconographic Representation of Percussion Instruments for Early Music 2.1.2 Written Documents About Percussion Instruments for Early Music 2.2 Historical Evolution of Membranophone Percussion Instruments 2.2.1 The Timpani 2.2.2 The Snare Drum 2.2.3 The Bass Drum 2.3 Historical Evolution of Idiophone Percussion Instruments 2.4 Summary Appendix 2.1 Appendix 2.2 Appendix 2.3 References 3 About the Sound of Percussion Instruments 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Vibration of Bars 3.3 Vibration of Plates 3.3.1 Rectangular Plates 3.3.2 Circular Plates 3.4 Vibration of Membranes 3.5 Vibration of Shells 3.6 Impact Sounds of Percussion Instruments and the Effects of Materials on These Sounds 3.6.1 Physical and Mechanical Properties of the Sound Sources 3.6.2 Effect of Contact Stiffness on Vibration Modes of Bars 3.6.3 About the Impact Sound on Bars and Plates Made of Wood 3.6.4 Impact Sound on Bars and Plates Made of Various Materials 3.6.5 About Sound of Percussion Instruments and the Vibration of Membranes 3.6.6 About the Sound of Percussion Instruments and the Vibration of Shells 3.7 Summary Appendix 3.1 Appendix 3.2: Wood Anatomy Appendix 3.2.1 Appendix 3.2.2 Appendix 3.2.3 Appendix 3.2.4 Appendix 3.2.5 Appendix 3.3: List of Wood Species Cited in this Chapter References 4 Methodology for Percussion Instruments Testing 4.1 Introduction  4.2 Modes of Vibration of Percussion Instruments and Finite and Boundary Element Studies 4.3 Experimental Studies on Modes of Vibration of Percussion Instruments 4.3.1 Modal Testing with the Response of the Structure Measured Mechanically 4.3.2 Optical Interferometry, as a Noncontact Method for Modal Testing 4.4 Numerical Simulation of Percussion Instruments 4.4.1 Numerical Methods in the Time and Frequency Domain–General Aspects 4.4.2 Modal Behaviour of a Drum with One Membrane—The Timpani 4.4.3 Modal Behaviour of a Drum with Two Membranes, the Tom-Tom 4.4.4 Modal Behaviour of a Bowed Bar 4.4.5 Interaction Between Bar and Mallet 4.5 Improvement in the Design of Percussion Instruments 4.5.1 The Bars of a Xylophone 4.5.2 The Shell of a Snare Drum 4.6 Summary Appendix 4.1 Appendix 4.2 References Part II Structural Parts of the Instruments 5 Materials for Membranophones—Timpani, Drums, Tambourine 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Timpani 5.2.1 Structural Parts of the Timpani 5.2.2 Materials for the Timpani 5.2.3 Technological Aspects of Manufacturing of the Kettle 5.3 The Snare Drum 5.3.1 Structural Parts of the Snare Drum 5.3.2 Materials for the Snare Drum 5.3.3 Technological Aspects of Snare Drum Manufacturing 5.4 Bass Drum 5.4.1 Structural Parts of the Bass Drum 5.4.2 Materials for the Bass Drum 5.4.3 Technological Aspects of Bass Drum Manufacturing 5.4.4 Effect of Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Treatment on Wood Structure 5.5 The Tambourine 5.5.1 Description of the Tambourine 5.5.2 Materials for Tambourines 5.5.3 A Replica of a Tambourine of the XVth Century 5.6 Summary References 6 Idiophones Made of Wood and Played with Mallets: Marimbas and Xylophones 6.1 Marimba 6.1.1 Structural Parts of the Marimba 6.1.2 Materials for the Marimba 6.1.3 Tuning a Marimba bar 6.1.4 Technological Aspects of a Marimba Manufacturing 6.2 The Xylophone 6.2.1 Structural Parts of the Xylophone 6.2.2 Materials for the Xylophone 6.2.3 Technological Aspects of Xylophone Manufacturing 6.3 Summary References 7 Materials for Metallic Idiophones Played with Mallets 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Vibraphone 7.2.1 Structural Parts of the Vibraphone 7.2.2 Materials for the Vibraphone 7.2.3 Tuning the Vibraphone 7.2.4 Tuning the Resonators 7.3 The Glockenspiel 7.3.1 Structural Parts of the Glockenspiel 7.3.2 Materials for the Glockenspiel 7.3.3 Tuning the Glockenspiel 7.4 Summary References 8 Struck Idiophones Played with Mallets: Gongs, Cymbals, Chimes, Sound Plates, Triangle 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Structural Parts 8.2.1 The Gong 8.2.2 The Cymbals 8.2.3 Chimes or Tubular Bells 8.2.4 The Bell Plates 8.2.5 The Triangle 8.3 Material of Construction 8.3.1 Materials for the Gongs 8.3.2 Materials for Cymbals 8.3.3 Materials for the Chimes 8.3.4 Materials for the Sound Plates 8.3.5 Materials for the Triangle 8.4 Manufacturing of a Gong 8.5 Manufacturing a Cymbal 8.6 Summary Appendices Appendix 8.1: Theoretical Aspects Related to the Vibration of Thin Plates and Membranes Appendix 8.2: About the Non-linear Mode Coupling in the Symmetrically Kinked Bars Appendix 8.3: About the Vibration of the Tubular Bells Appendix 8.4: Modes of Vibration of Triangles (data from Stanciu 2020) References 9 The Mallets 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Materials for Mallets and Drum Sticks 9.2.1 Mallets for Membranophones: Timpani Mallets 9.2.2 Mallets for Idiophone Instruments Made of Wood: The Xylophone and Marimba 9.2.3 Mallets for Metallic Idiophones: Vibraphone, Glockenspiel 9.2.4 Mallets for Struck Metallic Idiophone Instruments 9.3 Materials for Mallets 9.4 Response of the Structural Elements of Idiophones to Impact Excitation with Mallets 9.4.1 Interaction Mallet—Infinite Rigid Plane 9.4.2 Pulse Duration 9.4.3 The Contact Pressure 9.4.4 Impact with Internal Energy Dissipation 9.5 Frequency Range at Maximum Excitation 9.5.1 Spectrum of a Circular Membrane of a Timpani 9.5.2 Spectrum of a Gong 9.5.3 Types of Mallet Contact Generating Sound 9.5.4 The Strength of the Blow and the Dynamic Quality of the Mallet 9.6 Manufacturing of the Mallets 9.7 Summary Appendix 9.1: Mallets with Handles Made of Hollow Tubes of Aluminium References 10 The Carillon 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Structural Parts of the Carillon 10.2.1 The Bells and the Mechanical Systems 10.2.2 The Clapper 10.2.3 The Headstock 10.2.4 The Dynamics of the Bell Clapper 10.2.5 The Console 10.3 Materials for the Bells 10.3.1 Chemical Composition of Tin Bronzes for Bells 10.3.2 Materials and Acoustical Properties of Bells 10.3.3 Substitutive Materials for Bells 10.4 Manufacturing of Bells 10.4.1 Technology for Bell Manufacturing 10.4.2 The Templating 10.4.3 The Mould 10.4.4 The Pouring of the Bronze Alloy 10.4.5 Cooling of the Bell in the Mould 10.4.6 The Tunning 10.4.7 Manufacturing the Clapper 10.4.8 Manufacturing the Headstock of the Bell 10.4.9 Non-destructive Technique for Tuning a Bell 10.5 Summary Appendix 10.1 Appendix 10.2 Appendix 10.3: Processing of the Modes of Vibration of Carillon Bells References 11 A Percussion Idiophone Instrument with Keyboard: The Celesta 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Structural Parts of the Celesta 11.3 Materials for Celesta 11.4 Manufacturing of Celesta 11.5 Summary Appendix 11.1: Celesta and Organ References 12 Concussion Idiophones 12.1 The Concussion Instruments 12.2 Structural Parts of Concussion Instruments 12.3 Summary Reference 13 New Percussion Instruments 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Glass Instruments 13.2.1 The Crystal Baschet 13.2.2 The Materials for the Crystal Baschet Instrument 13.2.3 The Instrumentarium for Education 13.2.4 The Verrophone 13.3 The Metallic Instruments 13.3.1 Criteria for the Creation of New Metallic Musical Instruments 13.3.2 New Metallic Musical Instruments 13.4 Summary Appendix 13.1: Photographic Documents Appendix 13.2: Short Description of the Earlier Instruments Invented by Francois Baschet References Part III Properties of Materials 14 Properties of Wood Species for Percussion Instruments 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Rosewood and Other Wood Tropical Species Traditionally Used for Xylophone, Marimba and Other Small Instruments 14.2.1 Rosewood 14.2.2 Species Commonly Used for Percussion Instruments 14.3 Methods of Wood Identification and Related Wood Acoustical Properties 14.3.1 Visual Identification of Species 14.3.2 Ultrasonic Methods and Identification of Wood Species 14.3.3 Chemical Spectroscopy for the Identification of Tropical Wood Species 14.4 Acoustic Methods, Elastic Properties of Wood and Related Wood Structural Elements 14.4.1 Structural Elements of Wood and the Propagation of Mechanical Waves 14.4.2 Elastic Properties of Wood by Dynamic Methods 14.4.3 Effect of Anatomical Elements of Wood on Some Elastic Constants of Wood 14.5 Mechanical Characteristics of Wood Determined with Static Standard Methods 14.6 Alternative Wood Species for the Bars of the Xylophone and Marimba 14.6.1 Current Alternative Wood Species for Xylophone and Marimba Bars 14.6.2 Other New Alternative Wood Species from Tropical Geographic Zones 14.6.3 Treatments to Improve the Characteristics of Alternative Species 14.7 Summary Appendix 14.1: Theoretical Aspects Related to the Vibration of Rectangular Bars and of Thin Plates Appendix 14.2: CITES and the List of Endangered or Vulnerable Species References 15 Metallic Alloys for Percussion Instruments 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Historic High Tin Bronze Alloys 15.3 Non-destructive Methods for Testing Materials of Historical Bells 15.4 Fatigue in Metallic Materials 15.5 Fatigue in Bells 15.5.1 Current Damage in Church Bells 15.5.2 Fatigue Phenomena in Historical Bells 15.6 Hammering and Hardening of Bronze Alloys 15.6.1 Residual Strain in Cymbals 15.6.2 Residual Stress in Cymbals 15.6.3 Tensile Residual Stress and Dome Formatting in a Gong Made by Cold Forging 15.7 Summary References 16 Leather for Percussion Instruments 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Structure of Various Types of Skins 16.3 Physical and Mechanical Properties of Leather 16.3.1 Static Method 16.3.2 Thermal Methods for Non-destructive Testing 16.3.3 Microwave Method for the Measurement of the Orientation of Collagen Fibres 16.3.4 Acoustic Non-destructive Methods 16.4 Effect of Animal Genotype on Physical And-Mechanical Characteristics of Leather 16.4.1 Identification of the Animal Source for Leather 16.4.2 Effect of Animal Genotype on Physical and Mechanical Characteristics of Leather 16.5 Leather Looseness 16.5.1 Macroscopic and Microscopic Structure of Tight and Loose Leather 16.5.2 Ultrasonic Imaging of Tight and Loose Leather 16.5.3 Layered Structure of Tight and Loose Leather with X-Ray Scattering Measurements 16.5.4 Looseness Identification with Spectroscopic Methods 16.6 Summary References 17 New Materials for Percussion Instruments 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Materials and the Coupling of Vibrations of a Drum’s Membrane Its Shell 17.3 Composites for the Shell Made of Carbon Fibres 17.3.1 Carbon Fibre Composites Made with Epoxy Resin 17.3.2 Layered Structure of Carbon Fibre Epoxy Composite with Balsa Core 17.4 Composites Made of Wood Fibres for the Shell of a Drum 17.5 Composites Made of Vegetal Fibres for a Drum Shell 17.5.1 The Vegetal Fibres 17.5.2 The Polymer Matrix 17.5.3 The Shell 17.5.4 Acoustic Emission Properties of Bio-Composites for the Shell 17.6 Composites for the Velum of Membranophone Percussion Instruments 17.6.1 The Background 17.6.2 The Manufacturing 17.7 Composites for Profiled Bars of Marimbas and Xylophones 17.7.1 The Profiled Bars for Marimba 17.7.2 Pultrusion Technology for Xylophone Bars 17.8 Summary References Part IV Maintenance and Conservation of Percussion Instruments 18 Care, Maintenance and Restoration of Percussion Instruments 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Maintenance 18.3 The Effect of Environmental Temperature on Maintenance of Percussion Instruments 18.4 Restoration of Percussion Instruments 18.4.1 Restoration of a Celesta 18.4.2 Restoration of an Archaeological Bell 18.4.3 Reverse Engineering Method and Some Acoustical Properties of a Reconstructed Bell 18.5 Summary References 19 Conservation of Percussion Instruments 19.1 Basic Aspects of the Conservation of Musical Instruments 19.2 Indoor Deterioration of Cu Alloys 19.3 Indoor Deterioration of Wood by Light 19.4 Degradation of Leather 19.4.1 The Background 19.4.2 Leather Aging and Laboratory Experiments 19.5 Ageing of Composites 19.6 Summary References 20 Patents for Percussion Instruments 20.1 Patenting of the Percussion Instruments 20.2 Patents for Timpani 20.2.1 Patents in German Speaking Countries in the XIXth Century 20.2.2 Patents in the Netherlands in the XIXth Century 20.2.3 Patents in England in the XIXth Century 20.2.4 Patents in France in the XIXth Century 20.2.5 Patents in Italy in the XIXth Century 20.2.6 Patents for Timpani in the XXth Century and in the First Two Decades of the XXIst Century 20.3 Patents for Snare Drum 20.4 Patent for Percussion Instruments with Bars 20.5 Patents for Cymbals 20.6 Patents for Tubular Bells and Other Tubes for Percussion Instruments 20.6.1 Tubular Bell 20.6.2 Other Hollow Tubes Made of Composite Materials 20.6.3 Triangle 20.7 Summary American Patents Other Patents References Index