Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
#26122 04/07/01 06:12 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
There is a car in my neighborhood driven by a tenager. A bumper sticker on the back says:
"The music's not loud. You are old."
Now, although the volume is "cranked up" it is not the loudness of the music ... it is the bass vibration, along with bass beat, that hits me in the head and stomach like a sledgehammer.
The teens tell me they like the way the deep bass and beat make their insides vibrate! It gives me a headache.
There's a word for that combination of beat and intensity but I cannot remember it ... timbre keeps popping into my head but that isn't quite it!
HELP!
wow
P.S. Must say that when I told them the effect the loud beat had on me, the teens turned off the radio and do so whenever they are visiting their compatriots next door. Good kids!



#26123 04/07/01 06:27 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
I
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
I
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
[greenthere's a word for that combination of beat and intensity but I cannot remember it ... timbre keeps popping into my head but that isn't quite it!--its likely at least partially true.

"low bass rumble"?

As to the bumper stick ("the music isn't loud, you are old") you might respond with another "the music isn't moderate, you are deaf"


#26124 04/07/01 06:44 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
I have read that a lot of kids significantly damage their hearing by playing music much too loud, particularly with some of the portable types that have earphones. Kids today really do have "too much too soon."


#26125 04/07/01 09:34 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
In the sixties Hi-Fi's (High Fidelity for you's young'ins) had a "rumble" knob which controlled different parts of the lower(HZ)frequencies (depending on manufacturer). If I remember correctly, it wasn't a cut in low frequencies, it was a built in low frequency amplifier that gave you an extra boost, which "sympathetically" made your speakers rumble (and blew them out if you weren't careful).

OSHA has very specific rules for repetitive exposure to loud sounds for that very reason. An 8 hour average exposure to more than 85db will require ear plug use. I used my db meter to test something for us to compare that we may all understand, and I came up with 86 db standing right next to my home forced air furnace.

I'll bet they peak somwhere close to the threshold of pain (120db)... but then again, I've heard pleasure described that way often enough...

WOW - I use an arrangers term, used to desribe a lot of emphasis on a single frequency, or a lot of instruments playing the same note... "weight".


#26126 04/08/01 11:40 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
P
addict
Offline
addict
P
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
Wow - I'm not sure what the musical term may be, but youngsters here refer to that sound as "doof".


#26127 04/08/01 01:33 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
youngsters here refer to that sound as "doof".

Interesting ... but haven't heard it at this end of the world.
Musick? Any thoughts? Have you heard the term "doof?"


Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661

tssika - tssika - tssika - tssika - tssika - tssika....

oo........aaaah........oo........aaaah........oo....

Doof - Doof - Doof - Doof - Doof - Doof - Doof - Doof....

---------------------------------------------------------

I've made that exact sound with (with my voice) to replace the unavailable electronic "bass drum" sound, and it works! Much less expensive than the equipment. I haven't heard it used as a term to describe the sound, but it is beyond onomatopoetic for me... it is precisely the sound - no imitation there!




#26129 04/08/01 03:47 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Dear wow,
When I am in a particularly good mood and alone in my car,
I (yeah I know, I'm not a teenager any more) still love to
crank up The Backstreet Boys with full bass, as loud as I can stand it, and try to outsing them, and the best word I can think of for the bass good vibrations is throb.


#26130 04/09/01 08:32 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
What's the musical term for being on stage with a 200-watt Marshall amplifier driving two quad boxes behind you and having one of the speakers in a quad box blow the magnet out between your legs? Happened to me fifteen years ago or so. "Doof" probably does it. It certainly weakened my knees a little!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26131 04/09/01 10:41 AM
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
blow the magnet out between your legs
CK has a magnet between his legs? Explains why all the girls on this board are attracted to him. But I don't think I will explore this phraseology any further!
rod


#26132 04/09/01 04:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
... one of the speakers in a quad box blow the magnet out between your legs? ... It certainly weakened my knees a little!

And left him polarized with fear!



#26133 04/09/01 04:25 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
A good bass sound is appreciated by classical fans as well. I have quite a few CDs of organ music (organ pieces or choral pieces with organ accompaniment). If you have a big piece like Liszt's Fantasie and Fugue on B-A-C-H or a good English organist accompanying a cathedral choir singing a psalm to an Anglican chant, when things get really warmed up and the 32-foot stops go on, the floor in my living room vibrates up and down, flowers sway in the vases, and the pictures rattle against the walls (and the music isn't terrifically loud).


#26134 04/09/01 08:26 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Yes, Bob. I know zackley what you mean - the music doesn't have to be turned up that loud. Must have something to do with the harmonics, yes?

And, anyone:

Any relationship between "woof" (as in "woofer/tweeter") and "doof"?


#26135 04/09/01 08:32 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
A good bass sound is appreciated by classical fans as well.

Here I go, agreeing with BobY again!
One thing though is the difference between classical and (for lack of better word) modern.
The difference in the sound is similar to the clean cut of a scalpel (classical bass) and the THWACKTHUMP of a cleaver weilded by a heavy hand.
My stereo can make the water in a glass dance to the tune of Ode To Joy, and makes me tingle all over!
But it doesn't hit me in the pit of the stomach like the THWACKTHUMP of the augmented base staccato beat in a modern piece.
wow


#26136 04/10/01 02:05 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
I don't fancy myself a classical music fan ~ in fact sometimes, I find classical music puts me on edge. [shrug] What I *do* claim aficionada status on, however, is a capella. I bought my current stereo specifically for the "Bass Boost" capability, because few things can bring me to my knees like Rockapella's bass-man hitting his last note of Sixteen Tons. Have mercy.


#26137 04/10/01 03:17 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
The bumper sticker is right : I'm too old!


#26138 04/10/01 03:26 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
But only for deep and throbbing bass lines, dearest wise one!


#26139 04/10/01 03:45 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
harmonics
Yes, it does have to do with harmonics. I'm not an expert on this subject, but we are all, I guess, familiar with the story of the opera singer who could break a glass by singing the correct note; in fact, there was a commercial on TV some time ago which purported to show that. From my own experience, I noted an interesting manifestation of this: last year, on a big festival, our organist at church, as postlude, treated us to the Toccata from Widor's 5th Organ Symphony, a well-known piece which reminds me of a bus blowing its horn while going through the tunnel under the Simplon Pass (I've heard that, so I can make the comparison) and ends up on the tonic major chord with all stops on and everything wide open. As he was playing this, I noticed that the big brass altar cross was vibrating with the music. Not having ever played that piece or seen the score, I had to ask what key it was in to see what that piece of brasswork was tuned to.


#26140 04/10/01 04:44 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
The Wise Old Woman states: I'm too old!

That may or may not be, but the music is also too loud. Hearing deteriorates with age and if being too old were the problem it would be less of a problem.


#26141 04/10/01 05:21 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Although I alluded to the definition earlier, the term used truly is "sympathetic vibrations". The "harmonics" of a note are what (most often) are sympathetically vibrated by source sounds. An example of the difference in these terms can be demonstrated on a piano by slowly holding down the forte' pedal (the one on the right that allows the notes to sustain) and singing a note into its strings. The resulting sounds that comes from the strings is sympathetically generated. The resulting loudest tones are usually the harmonics or upper octaves and extensions of "Pythagorean proportions", and unless you yell or sing real loud, the fundamental or lowest occuring octave (ie. your voice note) resists sympathising.

"Is it live, or is it Ella Fitzgerald"?


#26142 04/10/01 08:02 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
"sympathetic vibrations".

these are pretty cool-- here is a neat trick when watch a tv commerical-- (you should be at least 6 to 8 back from the tv for this to work.)

watch the tv , take a couple of deep breathes, and then, start to hum-- on middle c- (a piano is a nice start-- or some one with a good sence of pitch) Hum and watch the televisions.

Most human skulls have sympathetic vibrations with middle c, which also happen to have sympathetic vibrations with 60HZ-- TV screen are "refreshed" at a rate of 60 hz-- so after a while what happens in you can "See the the refresh rate" (this also happens when you make a tape recording of a TV broadcast) it distorts the image in an interesting way... it works for about 85 to 90% of the populations-- I used to know all the math (ie, frequecy of Middle C in Hz, most common frequency of human skull, etc.) but like Musick trick with the piano-- you can experient with sympathetic vibrations.

I have also heard that the "Throb" or bass beat of a lot of rock 'n roll is a sympathetic vibrations to the human heard beat-- so music can actually effect your heart rhythm.... so Wow, you might be "too old" -- music that once moved you, might now give you pain....


#26143 04/11/01 01:47 AM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
I
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
I
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
<<sympathetic vibration>>

While we're on fun experiments you can do at home, has anyone ever done the triboluminesence bit? Apparently, if you pop a wintergreen lifesaver (gotta be wintergreen, according to the pros) in your mouth facing a mirror in a darkened room and bite down on it with your mouth open, you should see a flash of light. I invested in two rolls of lifesavers with disappointing results. But triboluminesence is a real phenomenon and a physcist tells me there's no reason it shouldn't work. [honest emoticon]


#26144 04/11/01 03:36 AM
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724

Is a predominant bass leading a piece of music called funk?


#26145 04/11/01 03:36 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
G
old hand
Offline
old hand
G
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
Wow - I'm not sure what the musical term may be, but youngsters here refer to that sound as "doof".

Around here the teenagers refer to making those artificial earthquakes as "bumping." Although I find it to be gosh-awful annoying, I must confess to having been young once. Back in the 1960s I had an old Renault 4CV with a highly modified engine. When I could get away with it I would remove the muffler and install a 38" pipe with an 18" megaphone attatched. The yowl of that little engine at 8,000rpm was music to my severely overtaxed ears!

There's an article in the latest Popular Mechanics magazine about the correlation between automobile exhaust sounds and the driver's mental state. The Flowmaster muffler company is doing research on tuning mufflers to the emotions of a car's intended market. If only Orwell could see us now!


#26146 04/11/01 10:01 AM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
funk?

That's certainly my understanding of funky music, Avy - led by a bit fat bass riff.


#26147 04/11/01 12:28 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
In reply to:

<<sympathetic vibration>>

While we're on fun experiments you can do at home, has anyone ever done the triboluminesence bit? Apparently, if you pop a wintergreen lifesaver (gotta be wintergreen, according to the pros) in your mouth facing a mirror in a darkened room and bite down on it with your mouth open, you should see a flash of light. I invested in two rolls of lifesavers with disappointing results. But triboluminesence is a real phenomenon and a physcist tells me there's no reason it shouldn't work. [honest emoticon]


It really, really works. Here's why, courtesy of The Straight Dope:

"Step One: When you shatter the sugar crystals with your teeth, electrons (which are negatively charged) break free. As a result, the atoms in which the electrons were formerly embedded become positively charged. In what amounts to a subatomic game of musical chairs, the free electrons dash around madly trying to find a new home.

Step Two: Meanwhile, as the sugar crystals disintegrate, nitrogen molecules from the air attach themselves to the fractured surfaces. When the free electrons strike the nitrogen molecules, they cause the latter to emit invisible ultraviolet radiation, along with a faint visible glow.

Step Three: The UV radiation is absorbed by the wintergreen flavoring, methyl salicylate. This then emits the fairly bright blue light you see."


-- http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_129.html

I can verify the theory, having tested it empirically. If you've had trouble getting the expected results, here are some suggestions. (1) Make sure that the wintergreen lifesavers you are using are fresh. Older ones which had absorbed moisture won't snap sufficiently when bit to create the shattering of sugar crystals required to generate the reaction. (2) Be sure to be in an absolutely dark space, as the light is faint and it easily obliterated by competing light sources. (3) Give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness before attempting to view the show. Happy crunching.


#26148 04/11/01 12:31 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
the triboluminesence bit?

I thought this was -- and now i am not sure i have the right word-- pyroelectric-- which my M-W10th says is related to a change in temperature- but i was looking for a py word for the effect of pressure-- (used in "Quartz" cystal watches-- ) which wintergreen, (and yes, it must be wintergreen, peppermints or spearmints candies won't work) exhibits.

As you apply pressure to the candy, you get small flashes of electric discharge-- similar to static. --
the same effect can't be seen with the naked eye, but if you put scotch (cellophane tape) on glass, then put the glass on top of photographic paper, (exposed paper)-- and peel the tape of the glass, you get a series of "sparks" which show up clearly once the film has been developed... (an other weird science game to play with your kids--) the cheap stuff works better than the expensive stuff.

I used to encourage fun science projects like this-- but i drew the line when my teen age son started to make bombs-- (not serious bombs, but something called "popcorn bombs" made out of tin foil, they expand and pop open like a grain of popcorn-- the make a loud poppin noise too, and scare the dickens out of you! Still, i didn't think bomb making was a good hobbie for home!) but since he saw no harm (he wasn't thinking of blowing things up, just of scaring his sister and her friends) He was doing out in the open, not secretly, so it was easy to put a stop to it.


#26149 04/11/01 01:18 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
I
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
I
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
While we're still on the subject of fun experiments you can do at home, an excellent book for any of you with children is Nathan Shalit's "Cup and Saucer Chemistry," which may still be available from Dover Books. Shalit walks you through a good number of chemistry experiments that can be performed using--harmless--items found around the kitchen.

(and thanks, Sparts)

(As to wintergreen lifesavers, I have it on the authority of The Straight Dope (Sparts duly thanked above) that "triboluminescence" is the correct term.)


#26150 04/11/01 01:29 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
but i was looking for a py word for the effect of pressure

Piezoelectric


#26151 04/11/01 03:03 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
The fresh wintergreen Life Savers do make sparks ... I impressed the heck out of several kidddies by demonstrating the trick and teaching them to do it.
They think I am "way cool."
wow


#26152 04/11/01 10:35 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Re: sympathetic vibrations--my husband says that when a
troop of armed forces is on the march, they are ordered to
march out of step going over a bridge, because the sympathetic vibrations can cause some bridges to collapse.
Also--in one of Clive Cussler's works of fiction (can't remember which, but can LIU if anyone's really interested),
the enemy had developed a weapon of incredibly destructive power that used sound waves. Bad literature, but theoretically "sound" technology, I think. [groaning at her
own unintended pun emoticon]


#26153 04/12/01 03:51 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
Sympathetic vibration
I too have heard the marching-over-a-bridge theory, but I don't believe that would be sympathetic vibration as it is defined. However, a common, and benign (no H.G.Wells stuff) everyday use of sympathetic vibration is in tuning instruments.

To tune a piano, organ or harpsichord (and they need tuning more often than most people would think, especially a harpsichord which can go out of tune in a half hour) you don't need a tuning fork or electronic pitchpipe for each note in the scale. A friend of mine who bought a harpsichord asked our organist how to tune it easily. The answer: use a tuning fork to tune middle C; then tune C one octave above and one below, then tune E, G, and B-flat from there, all by holding down those notes and striking hard on C. You tune the octaves of C by listening to the beating of the two notes. Once you have tuned middle C with the tuning fork and you know that one is in tune, you tune the octaves from the beating sound you hear when you play both together. The slower the beating, the farther off; as you get the one more into tune with the first, the beating gets faster, and when you don't hear beating, they are in tune. The beating comes from the sound waves being out of synch and colliding with each other in the air before they reach our ears.


#26154 04/12/01 04:38 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Our Man in Ballmer suggests: use a tuning fork to tune middle C; then tune C one octave above and one below, then tune E, G, and B-flat from there etc.

This will produce a tuning that sounds great in C, in fact even better than the normal tuning in which you tune each note individually to a standard reference. As you depart from the key of C around the circle of fifths (C-G-D-A-E-B-F#/Gb-Db-Ab-Eb-Bb-F-C) the tuning will get worse and worse until you hit F#/Gb at which point it will start to get better until you get back around to C. If you are interested in this tuning see http://www.dnai.com/~jinetwk/.


#26155 04/12/01 05:25 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
Tuning
I daresay either I grossly oversimplified the tuning process or my organist friend did in his advice. What you describe is, of course, the problem of natural tuning, which was solved by tempered tuning, which became the standard method thanks largely to its championship by J.S. Bach nearly 300 years ago. Doing your own tuning takes a good ear at least and a good sense of relative pitch. Perfect pitch sense would be very useful, but few people have it.


#26156 04/12/01 06:08 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
I'm sure you have seen the effect of "harmonic resonance" on "Those amazing disaster shows" where a cabled-suspension(?) bridge twists and torques in the wind.

Just a bit too "sympathetic".


#26157 04/12/01 07:01 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
BobY adds: ...tempered tuning, which became the standard method thanks largely to its championship by J.S. Bach nearly 300 years ago.

It gets even more complex than that. The change didn't happen all in one swell foop. There were bunches of partially tempered systems with all kinds weird names like 1/4 comma mean tone that fit in the general category of non-just non-equal temperaments (http://www.ixpres.com/interval/dict/temp.htm). The system we use today is called equal temperament; the relation between the frequencies of any of the adjacent notes in the 12 tone scale is identical. Thus Freq(E):Freq(F)::Freq(A#):Freq(B). Mozart did not have the benefit of this temperament scheme and some of his music, in my opinion, shows it. I had never been a great fan of Mozart until I went to a Malcolm Bilson concert in which he was showing off his new pianoforte. He had it tuned in the temperament that Mozart would have used and was pretty much restricted to playing in three keys. He played one piece that he had introed by saying that most composers would repeat a motif maybe two or three times but that Mozart had done it 13 times in this piece. Mozart had taken the little three or four note theme and dragged it kicking and screaming around the circle of fifths watching it get more and more discordant until it made it halfway around at which point it slowly came back to harmonious accord. Ever since then I have listened for that sort of thing in Mozart's music (which I am getting more and more appreciative of Hi E) wondering what it would sound like if they were playing in his temperament.


#26158 04/12/01 09:00 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
The system we use today is called equal temperament; the relation between the frequencies of any of the adjacent notes in the 12 tone scale is identical. Thus Freq(E):Freq(F)::Freq(A#):Freq(B). Mozart did not have the benefit of this temperament scheme and some of his music, in my opinion, shows it.

That's the problem with being non-musical. I recently watched a series that I really enjoyed called "Howard Goodall's Big Bangs", on the history of Western music, and, not being remotely musical myself, I lapped it all up. Imagine my disappointment on learning that he had sold me a pup with his statement that J.S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" was largely responsible for our "equal temperament" system, even specifically mentioning Mozart and saying that some of his music would not have been possible without it. Once again, the TV has lied to me.


#26159 04/13/01 12:01 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
The suspension bridge that is shown in most "disaster" TV shows in the Tacoma Narrows bridge– and it fail because of an engineering flaw.

Engineers where trying to be build lighter and "more elegant" bridges. The goal was strong, lightweight bridges. Reducing the weight meant smaller anchorages, and less maintenance

The bridge design was fine for supporting weight– but its light weight design had trouble coping with the high winds in the Tacoma Narrows gorge. It was high winds that caused the failure. The bridge start falling faster than gravity– since it wasn't so much rising and falling as it was oscillating.. The oscillation eventual (with in minutes once they really got going) destroyed the bridge.

The same engineering company used almost the same design for the Whitestone bridge across the East River connecting the Bronx to Long Island. After the failure of the Tacoma bridge, the Whitestone bridge was "improved" with new structural steel, in the form of triangular bracing. (Since the design was excellent for downward stress/weight, the bridge could carry the load.) This was installed in what was original the pedestrian pathways. The Whitestone bridge is still pretty bouncy it's 'interesting' to drive over when there are heavy winds. – but it's close to 70 years old, and still carries a heavy volume of traffic.

But some bridges have failed because of rhythmic stress of humans, not wind. Back in the 70, and again in the 80's, "Walkways" in malls and hotels have failed when a number of dancers, all moving to the same beat, caused sympatric vibrations. And the NY Marathon has rules about the number and speed of runners on the Verrazano Bridge- at the start of the race. So the is something to it.


#26160 04/13/01 03:11 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
NY Marathon has rules about the number and speed of runners on the Verrazano Bridge- at the start of the race. So the is something to it.

I have shot off a note to Army pal for clarification on present practice ...back atcha' when I get an answer. He's used to my whacky questions.
wow
EDIT : about 4:45 p.m. EDT
My Army chum says : "I have never read anything in any manuals, I know that it isn't in FM22-5 (Drill & Ceremony).



#26161 04/13/01 04:11 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
MaxQ complains: he (Howard Goodall) had sold me a pup with his statement that J.S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" was largely responsible for our "equal temperament" system

It certainly led the way. Before any of the temperament schemes the just intonation system, which was based on the harmonic tuning, would not have allowed for the playing of any key on a keyboard instrument such as a a harpsichord or, later, a piano. In a well temperament the various keys *do have different qualities, the thirds and fifths are all slightly different. If Mozart had tried to write his music in just intonation the romp around the circle of fifths I described above, rather than leading to increased and then decreased discordance (and it wasn't really *bad, just a little off color) would have ended in a train wreck when he came back home.


#26162 04/16/01 12:59 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
of troy mentions: ..."Walkways" in malls and hotels have failed when a number of dancers, all moving to the same beat, caused sympathetic vibrations...

I suspect this has something to do with the sway that's built into such structures for stability in earthquakes. Ironic, eh?


#26163 04/17/01 09:54 AM
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
re Harmonic resonance on bridges: We were taught in CCF (uk = OTC in US I think, = toy soldiers at school, right?) to break step on bridges for that very reason.
And the recent problems with the "Millenium Bridge" in London bear witness to the phenomenon. Whereas the designers had thought to control vertical harmonics in this footbridge they discovered as soon as they opened it that a slight breeze caused a small sway (allowed for) and that this caused all the pedestrians to walk in a wider gait and in step, setting up a positive feedback, and making it very uncomfortable. It has been closed for about a year now, but I believe they have designed a solution and have started to fit it.
Rod


#26164 04/17/01 04:35 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
CCF
It's ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps)

And not necessarily toy soldiers, although very many, maybe most, were. But on the other hand, as a friend of mine who was an ROTC officer in 'Nam has noted, in Vietnam the life expectancy of an ROTC 2nd or 1st Lieutenant was about 3 weeks from the time he first went into the field.


#26165 04/20/01 08:58 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
MaxQ states: : he (Howard Goodall) had sold me a pup with his statement that J.S. Bach's "The Well-Tempered Clavier" was largely responsible for our "equal temperament" system

A pup, indeed. Yap, yap!

Faldage commented: It certainly led the way.

Well, yes and no. By the time Bach swung into action, the well-tempered tuning system had been largely developed - pretty much during the previous century, if my memory of musical history serves me correctly. Most of the work was actually done in Germany, I believe. Anyway, it was the development of the theory of the Pythagorean comma (largely playing it by ear? ) which led to the well-tempered approach used by Bach (and which sounds a little out of key to our ears). Further refinement led to the equal-tempered system we use today.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26166 04/20/01 02:51 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
J.S.Bach
I ought to note in passing an innovation of Bach's which was, apparently, entirely his own. He was the first keyboard player to use all 10 fingers. Prior to him, the thumbs were almost never used unless needed to stretch to an interval you couldn't reach with the other fingers. One played with the fingers straight (the fault which piano teachers are constantly correcting since Bach's time) and there were many fingerings, like crossing 2 over 3, or 4 over 5, etc., which seem very wierd today, but were what you had to do if you only used the 8 fingers. Bach, according to contemporary witnesses, not only played with his thumbs but with his fingers curved and without lifting them very high off the keys. He taught his sons and his students this method and it has become standard. By way of contrast, try playing Buxtehude or Sweelinck or one of the older generation composers in the old manner, without the thumbs. Also, although old J.S. wrote some organ music which is playable only by virtuosi, he did not, like Rachmaninoff, write music requiring huge hands, making huge problems for musicians like me who have small hands; I know of only 2 places in the organ literature of Bach which stretch more than an octave.


#26167 04/20/01 07:00 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
I know of only 2 places in the organ literature of Bach which stretch more than an octave.

No, he stretched the boundaries of his instruments instead!

In spite of the fact that both my parents were piano teachers, I never really learned the piano formally (classical guitar instead). But I taught myself to play a couple of the preludes from the Well-tempered Clavier. I would not have been able to do this had Bach been a contortionist like Rachmaninov!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26168 04/21/01 02:19 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
I'll make this short...

Bach, as "finally agreed upon" (and geez do I use those terms loosely), was the most dexterously talented (he had an excellent ear as well) exploiter of this newly "repaired" tuning system, and based on the history that has unfolded since, has, unfortunately for all of "us", established a "standard" (and I use that term even looser) of key centered composition that, to this day, we have yet to escape from the grips of their audible references.

Granted, the definition of "music" includes a sense of organization and communication... but this is very simple math... and I'm sick of the same story... over and over and over and... the endless even rhythms... did that guy ever breathe?

We knick-named him "Two-Fives to Hell"


#26169 04/22/01 04:22 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Bach, as "finally agreed upon" (and geez do I use those terms loosely), was the most dexterously talented (he had an excellent ear as well) exploiter of this newly "repaired" tuning system, and based on the history that has unfolded since, has, unfortunately for all of "us", established a "standard" (and I use that term even looser) of key centered composition that, to this day, we have yet to escape from the grips of their audible references.

Sorry I didn't put all the colours back in, K.

However, I do have to protest, just a little. I frankly don't give a damn about the academic discussions of the implications of Bach's work - I just like it. As I also like Liszt - and he did his damnedest to detune the piano, if only by the number of notes he insisted should be played together with the loud pedal to the metal! Blame Chopin if you wanna blame anyone. He'd have written you a nice nocturne in reply.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26170 04/23/01 05:49 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
B
veteran
Offline
veteran
B
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
Bach and Liszt
Besides dear old Franz, who used a variety of dramatic devices and practices to get women swooning over him, even to the point of becoming an abbé, there was the monster Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had hands big enough to pick up a basketball with the fingers of one hand and wrote accordingly for stretches of 11 or more keys, and also hated to write in any key having less than 5 sharps.


#26171 04/23/01 09:48 PM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
J
old hand
Offline
old hand
J
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
was the monster Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had hands big enough to pick up a basketball with the fingers of one hand and wrote accordingly for stretches of 11 or more keys, and also hated to write in any key having less than 5 sharps.

Thelonious Monk was noted for his large hands as well. (I know, this is jazz, not classical.) He didn't write music for long stretches, but he frequently would over-reach when intending to play an octave. This is why some of his music sounds odd and choppy, (not to mention that he always had a cigarette in one hand).


#26172 04/23/01 11:33 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Thelonious Monk was noted for his large hands

Probably related to Felonius Monk, noted for his light fingers ...



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26173 04/24/01 07:04 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
J.S.Bach, on the other hand, could not palm a basketball.


#26174 04/24/01 07:40 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
...This is why some of his music sounds odd and choppy...

I'm sure the cigarette in hand had some effect on his playing, but he was known to incorporate "mistake sounding" motifs into his performances as attempts to get "in between" two notes on the keyboard.

'sides, ain't nothin' odd 'bout any kinda 9th, unless it's a'classical.


Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,326
Members9,182
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
1 members (A C Bowden), 748 guests, and 0 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,539
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5