On August 24, 2000, our new Chancellor came to visit.
Photos courtesy of Dan Sears, UNC News Bureau
Here he addresses the class while Profs. McNeil and Wissick listen in the
background.
John Montgomery, a Raleigh instrument maker (who made
one of Prof. Wissick's cellos)
visited the class on Sept. 14, 2000.
A violin sawn in half (not one that he made!) allowed the class to see
the location of the bass bar
and the soundpost, and the subtle changes in thickness of the top and
bottom plates.
Mr. Montgomery also demonstrated how to adjust a soundpost. Prof.
Wissick said (and we heard) that
the sound of his cello was much improved by this very small shift of
the post.
In Etude #2, the students measured the frequency spectra of various stringed instruments.
Here the Dresden group (Mike Truzy, Daniel Thigpen, Mike Johnson and Luke Selden) measure the spectrum of a bowed violin string.
Members of the Salzburg group (Trevor Hutton, Christy Nell, and Alex
Danilowicz)
make measurements and watch the computer screen.
On Oct. 19, local harpsichord virtuoso Elaine Funaro visited our class. We met in Person Recital Hall, and she used three harpsichords to demonstrate various temperaments: Pythagorean, 1/4-comma meantone, Werckmeister, and equal temperament.
In Etude #4, the students measured the frequency spectra of compound horns made from cylindrical piping and the end bells from real brass instruments.
On the left the Salzburg group (Trevor Hutton, Christy Nell and Alex Danilowicz) study the properties of a French horn bell. On the right the Bamburg group (Jamie Darst, Michael Johnson and Doug Little) look for resonant frequencies in a trombone bell.
Megan Ketch, Wilson Fuller, Dave Spencer, and Mela Kirkpatrick (the
Stuttgart group) had the trumpet bell. On the right, Daniel Thigpen,
Luke Selden, and Mike Truzy (Dresden) are looking at another trombone bell.