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Contributions de F. B. Solvyns, artiste peintre flamand, a la connaissance des instruments de musique indiens. Inventaire des instruments : croquis, dessins accompagnes de descriptifs

The linear prediction method has recently been used with considerable success in the analysis and synthesis of speech sounds. The purpose of this paper is to describe its application to musical tones in general, and to the analysis and synthesis of oboe tones in particular. Preliminary indications are that five predictor coefficients are adequate for the synthesis of good oboe tones, and in some ways are better than 12. Adaptation of the analysis‐synthesis algorithms and determination of the optimum number of predictor coefficients for various pitches and tone dynamics is discussed. Tones synthesized with various numbers of predictors coefficients are demonstrated.

I have spent most of my microtonal career on the edges of the computer world. The first piece I wrote in what I guess I can call my mature technique (From an Oboe Quartet [1971]) was tried out, little by little as it was composed, on the PDP-6(10) system at M.I.T.'s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, using Stephen Smoliar's EUTERPE, which he had extended specifically to accommodate my music. In 1985, I convinced Larry Johnson to develop a program for his Commodore 64 that allowed me to provide a computer realization of the vocal pieces mentioned later in this article, to help the singers learn how to associate the notes with the notation.

The adjustment of woodwind air columns for proper tuning and intermode cooperation requires knowledge of the fractional mode frequency shifts (Δf/f)n produced by air column cross‐section perturbations Sp(x), as represented by the formula (Δf/f)n = −∫0LWnSpdx. In the conical woodwinds direct measurement of the weight function Wn(x) via a movable perturbing volume is not practicable. Instead, closely spaced probe microphone measurements of the modal pressure wavefunctions permit calculation via Wn = [pn2 − (∂pn/∂x)2(1/kn)2]⧸ ∫ 0L S0(x)[pn2] + (∂pn/∂x)2(1/kn)2]dx. We have measured the set of Wn's of several representative fingerings on the Triebert system 6A (conservatory), system 3, and Vienna Academy system oboes, and on the German system bassoon. Effects of nonuniform taper, tone holes, etc. are in agreement with theoretical expectation. Overall the patterns of inter‐instrument similarity and of departure from simple‐cone behavior are quite parallel to what we reported earlier for the clarinet family. [Wo...

he oboe2 is widely disseminated throughout India and occurs in many forms, conical or cylindrical, with or without a pirouette, with seven to twelve holes, and with significant variation in size. The variety of contexts in which the instrument is found suggests considerable antiquity for its use. There is, however, a great deal of evidence to support the view that it was introduced into India by the Muslims, probably not much more than six hundred years ago. In North India and Pakistan the instrument is generally called shahna7 (sanal, shenai, sonai, etc.), but it is also known as sumay or surna, mohorn or mahur7 (in Orissa), pipahl (in Bihar), pipori (in Gujarat), and so on. In South India it is usually known as nagasvara(m) (nagasura, nagasara, nadasvara), while the smaller version with its rather obvious name, mukhavln. (lit. mouth vina), has largely been replaced by the Western clarinet. In their most extreme forms there is very little resemblance between the shahna7 and the nagasvara (see P1. 1). Besides the obvious difference in size and shape, the shahna7 is generally fashioned from one piece of wood, whereas the nagasvara has a separate, detachable bell. In spite of its cylindrical outward appearance, the shahnai has a conical bore like the nagasvara. The shahna7 has a pirouette and thus requires a blowing technique different from that of the nagasvara. The shahnaT has seven finger holes and one thumb hole, whereas the nagasvara has twelve holes-eight in front and two on each side. Between these two extremes there are a great number of oboe-type instruments in India, many having brass bells and brass sections below the mouthpiece. For instance, a nagasvara type was found in Hubli, Mysore State, which clearly has a pirouette, while a more sophisticated shahna' without a pirouette is used in North Indian classical music.3 In the orchestra of the Kota tribe in the Nilgiri Hills, South India, an instrument similar to the shahnai is used, while in Orissa some mohonTs in many ways resemble more closely the nagasvara, having a detachable bell and being somewhat larger than the common shahna 7. This indicates that the shahna 7 and the nagasvara types are not exclusively confined to North and South India, respectively.

In a concert at the University of California on the occasion of the eleventh general assembly of the International Astronomical Union, the Griller Quartet presented two concertos by Sir William Herschel. The scores used were from original manuscripts in the collection of the Music Library. The manuscripts came to the University in 1959, from an English dealer who acquired them in the sale of the Herschel estate in Slough, Buckinghamshire. They are chiefly works for instrumental ensemble, but include violin sonatas and accompanied keyboard sonatas, some fifteen works in all. The concert marked one of the first performances of Herschel's music since the 18th century, and it afforded a rare opportunity to bring before an international assembly of astronomers some examples of musical composition by one of their colleagues. Everyone knows what the name, Sir William Herschel, stands for in astronomy, but few have any direct knowledge of Herschel, the composer, in spite of the fact that he spent a large part of his life as a professional musician and an amateur astronomer. There is, of course, a long tradition behind the alliance of music and astronomy. There was a time when musicians and astronomers were trained in the same disciplines, when they could claim an equal knowledge of the music of the spheres. But this was not the case with Frederick William Herschel. There was nothing mystical or metaphysical in his approach to the art of music. He was a practical musician of his time, and he lived in a time when musicians were too much occupied with the problems of survival to indulge in cosmic or sentimental views about their role in society. Herschel's father was an oboe player in the band of a regiment of Guards stationed at Hannover. All of his children were accomplished musicians : the oldest son, Jacob, was