Scientific Web Sites

With all of the web sites devoted to the trumpet, it is surprising that there are so few that discuss the science of the instrument. I think this dearth of scientific web sites occurs for many reasons. One reason is that there are only a limited number of people who actually have the background and interest, and of these there are even fewer who have the time and energy necessary to produce a good web page. Another reason is that there is no profit involved; therefore, there is no commercial incentive to produce and maintain web sites on this topic.

Most of the web sites that discuss the physics of the trumpet can be found at universities, and are usually found as links within a larger web site. You can find several sites that have lecture notes from lower-division physics classes, but unless you already know the science you really need the lectures to go with them. Besides, these lectures usually address brass instruments in general, and often only to a very limited extent.

There are a few sites that are maintained by university research groups that are actively engaged in research on the trumpet, but unfortunately these sites are usually used for recruiting science students or for consumption by other physicists. Since they are not intended to educate non-scientists they are often of only passing interest to the trumpet player.

My web site fits in this category, and so does the site of the musical acoustics group at the University of Edinburgh (http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/acoustics). However, both sites may be worth a quick visit, if for no other reason than to look at the interesting pictures. Although there is little there for the average trumpet player, it is worth a visit just to see a picture of the first set of artificial lips ever used in scientific research on a brass instrument (they actually use them to play a trombone).

My web page on the physics of the trumpet is specifically for recruiting purposes, but it also has some interesting pictures. Like many university web sites, the information in my site is buried under several layers. You can find the trumpet part of the site by going to the main page (http://vanadium.rollins.edu/~tmoore/research1.htm) and then clicking on the “trumpet research” link. Most of what you find there is fairly technical, but you may be interested in the pictures of the patterns of vibration of a trumpet bell. It may give you a new way to think about your horn.

One of the few university web pages that “breaks the mold” is maintained by the musical acoustics group at The University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. This group is very well known in the scientific community for its studies of the physics of brass instruments, and although this group is made up of professional scientists and graduate students pursuing their Ph.D., the web site is very understandable. It has a great introduction to the physics of brasses, and you can bet the physics is correct (http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music). Click “basics” for a great introduction to musical acoustics.

Fortunately, there are a few people in the world who just like to think about the physics of the trumpet, and are eager to educate the rest of us. One such person is Nick Drozdoff. Nick is enthusiastic about the science of the trumpet, and since he is a high school physics teacher as well as a professional trumpet player, he understands both the art and the science. He has done a great job discussing some of the science of playing the trumpet, and his web site is one of the very few that is devoted almost exclusively to the trumpet. His essays on the physics of the trumpet are a good place to start learning about the science of the instrument  (http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/3941).

Even if you are not interested in the fundamental physics of the trumpet, the web site of Matthias Bertsch, at Institut für Wiener Klangstil in Vienna, is certainly worth a visit (http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/mb). Follow the link to the Trumpet Research Project for a description of Matthias’ project to determine the physical reasons behind why players describe the characteristics of a trumpet as they do. This is very interesting and important work, and when completed, will change how scientists and players communicate. However, this page is one of my favorites mainly because it has a link to what Matthias calls “amazing insight views.” By following this link you can see high-speed and stroboscopic photography of the lips of a trumpet player in motion. There is also some very interesting x-ray video of a trumpet player in action. Even if you aren’t interested in the science, the videos are so impressive that you should take a few minutes to view them.