JAVS Summer 2011

This would be of some benefit in the key of B-flat major, albeit there is considerable ambiguity on the use of this particular gamba. 42 The final link is the acoustical properties of the viola. Neville Fletcher and Thomas Rossing note that the differences between dimensions of the violin and viola do not match the tuning of the viola, causing the principal resonances of the viola to lie between, rather than on, open strings. 43 They further note that it was this discrepancy that provided for the unique sound of the viola, and similarly Riley noted that Hermann Ritter’s viola alta , in “solving” acoustical issues of the viola, created an instrument that sounded more like a cello, losing the sound most characteristic of the viola. 44 In adjusting the viola to perform a new role, we are not bound by these restrictions of how the resultant sound differs from the viola tone that we have become accustomed to—in other words, a different sound is precisely our goal. Furthermore, instead of moving the resonant frequencies of the instrument, as Ritter seemed to have done, the process here is to emphasize the resonant frequencies already present in the viola. Fletcher and Rossing place these resonances as being between the G and D (for the principal air mode) and between the D and A string (for the principal body or wood mode). 45 Hans Johansson places the frequencies at approximately 230 Hz and 350 Hz, equivalent to B-flat and F. 46 A particular connection of this to the viola da gamba is that the primary resonances of the viola da gamba in Andrew Brown’s acoustical study were at 115 Hz—the B-flat an octave lower. 47 As mentioned earlier, at least one viola da gamba has tuning that includes a B-flat: the alto viola da gamba. 48 Three Post-Experimental Observations With scordatura roots in a practical exploration, experiments led to these observations: • 1. There is a clear increase in volume when retuning finds the precise frequency of its resonant frequencies, particularly in moving the A string to an F below. • 2. However, volume alone does not indicate the best frequency for an instrument—also relevant is the consistency of pitch in the decay of a note after the bow leaves the string. If a string is tuned slightly sharp to a resonant frequency, one will hear a flattening of pitch in the decay. • 3. The g’ on a D string of a viola is resonant not only because of the sympathetic G string an octave below, but at least as much because of the C string. The effect of the relationship of this compound perfect fifth provides some unusual results—tuning a C string to B will make the F sharp on a D string particularly resonant, at least in the direct vicinity of the instrument. The same does not seem to apply to the violin, at least not to the same extent—likely because of the reinforcement of a primary resonance lying on the violin’s D string.

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