Posted by Bob Brines [ 148.63.220.187 ] on January 12, 2006 at 10:13:21:

In Reply to: Re: Thought experiment & why sonic indistinguishability is not a bad thing posted by hurdy_gurdyman on January 12, 2006 at 09:35:01:

Sigh, ain't it the truth.

My chosen instrument is the recorder. Due to the physics of the instrument, it could not be made louder. The new fangled transverse flute could and by 1740 or so, the recorder ceased to exist in art music. There have been a few pieces written for recorder in the late 1900's, mainly on commission from modern recorder players who owe their artistic lives to the revival of baroque period instrument performances.

To give you an idea of the relative power of various instruments, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2 of 1721 uses solo recorder, oboe, violin and trumpet! and a chamber orchestra, and #4 uses two recorder and violin. But as early as 1728, Vivaldi mutes the strings in the recorder concerto RV442, published as a flute concerto Op10 #5, RV434.

As Dave says about banjos, give a listen to recorders, baroque flutes ( the same basic sound persisted up to Beethoven's time) and modern flutes.

Bob

Replies:

• Re: More on old instruments - hurdy_gurdyman 12:06:15 01/12/06 (5)
  • Re: More on old instruments - Bob Brines 21:55:34 01/12/06 (1)
    • "Something like plywood cabinets" - Wayne Parham 10:11:26 01/13/06 (0)
  • Re: More on old instruments - Wayne Parham 13:25:29 01/12/06 (2)
    • Re: More on old instruments - hurdy_gurdyman 18:31:03 01/12/06 (1)
      • History of musical scales - Wayne Parham 10:25:42 01/13/06 (0)