[TPIN] Air pressure while playing

[Lawrence Madsen]

I have gone the collapse route with some horn damage.  Now I no longer do
high and loud; however, I am still searching for that magic embouchure to
get me back there more comfortably.

Larry Madsen

On 9/13/07, Paul Dhuse <pdhuse at pacbell.net> wrote:
>
> I found the relevant paragraph in Fletcher and Rossing _Physics of Musical
> Instruments_ (Springer Verlag), p.391.
>
> "The actual blowing pressures used for brass instruments vary widely with
> the
> instrument and the music being played (Bouhuys, 1965).  A soft. low
> pitched note
> on the French horn can be produced with an air pressure as low as 3 cm
> water-gauge (0.3 Kpa, 0.042 psi), while a high note played loudly on the
> same
> instrument may require more that 60 cm water-gauge (6 Kpa, 0.85psi).  Trumpet
> players use even higher blowing pressure, up to 10 kPa (1.45 psi), but an
> upper
> limit is set by normal diastolic blood pressure in the arteries of the
> neck,
> which is not much higher than this.  Attempts to play even louder lead to
> dizziness or even collapse!"
>
> I don't think we'll be able to hire ourselves out as tire inflators.
>
> (unit conversion to psi mine, please correct me if I've converted wrong.)
>
> I also found my notes on this, stuck in book, from the last time we had
> this
> discussion. :-)
>
> --
> "Ahh, the trumpet. Now there's an instrument on which one can truly
> embarrass
> himself!"  (G. Keiller to G. Bordner)
>
> Paul Dhuse               Home (408)985-7149        Mobile (408)318-1161
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