Violin Acoustics

• Introduction to violin acoustics

Some of our research on violin acoustics

• Articulation and vibrato on the violin and their importance to the violin sound(s).
• A study of torsional waves in the bowed string, and how they are strongly coupled to the normal transverse waves during normal playing.
• How do violins change with playing and environmental changes over time?: a report after the first three years of a long-term study.

• The research papers of John McLennan, recent PhD graduate from this lab. These include
  • The thesis is available on line: The violin: music acoustics from baroque to romantic (34 Mbyte).
  • The thesis has also an on-line appendix, containing chiefly the sound files of the violin being played in its various configurations.
  • Sound files and analysis of The Effect of the Soundpost on Violin Sound.
  • Some calculations of Monopole Radiation at Low Frequencies in the Violin.
  • The Soundpost: an Update.

Some explanatory notes

• Waves and sound (a multimedia introduction from Physclips).
• Strings and standing waves (a simple introduction to vibrating strings).
• Bows and strings (a simple introduction to that interaction).
• Chladni patterns (experimental results showing the vibration of the plates of violins).
• What is a sound spectrum?
• What is a decibel?
• Acoustics for violin and guitar makers by Erik Jansson.
• And finally, yes, we felt obliged to put on our FAQ some comments about that hoary old question "what was the Stradivarius secret?".