[Dixielandjazz] Hot Sounds From a Cold Trumpet? Cryogenic Theory Falls Flat

[Norman Vickers]

Dear listmates.  This article from Nov. 18 NYTimes crossed my screen.   I
pass along for interest and comment, especially for brass players.

Norman Vickers
Pensacola


Subject: NYT: Hot Sounds From a Cold Trumpet? Cryogenic Theory Falls
Flat


Hot Sounds From a Cold Trumpet? Cryogenic Theory Falls Flat
NYT November 18, 2003
 By TERRY SCHWADRON

Without, er, fanfare, two Tufts University engineering
researchers announced results of a study last week
rebutting a popular myth among some trumpet players that
deep-freezing the instruments will change the sound for the
better.

Rather, they told the Acoustical Society of America meeting
in Austin, Tex., that scientific testing of cryogenically
freezing 10 trumpets showed minimal differences when the
instruments were thawed and played by six musicians. After
two years of research, Dr. Chris Rogers, an engineering
professor, said that he and colleagues determined that
freezing trumpets did not make them sound better.

"One of the great things about studying musical
instruments, though, is if the player believes it will make
a difference, he or she will play better, so it acts as a
sort of placebo," Dr. Rogers said.

There has been growing interest among musicians in these
treatments for brass instruments of all kind. In
experiments, the instruments were cooled with liquid
nitrogen to minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit, and then slowly
warmed, all in the belief that they would become easier to
play. A major flute manufacturer uses the process, and
small storefront businesses have popped up for the sole
purpose of freezing the instruments.

Chip Jones, a Tufts graduate student involved in the
research, said he had recruited six trumpeters ranging in
skill from a former high school musician to a New England
Conservatory player to member of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra.

They played the same sequence on trumpets that had been
frozen and those that had not, and then rated the
instruments. They were also asked to identify which trumpet
matched the sound that "people say is brighter,
freer-blowing or that had more `presence,' " Mr. Jones
said.

Differences in the answers, he said, were statistically
insignificant. "There was more difference from trumpet to
trumpet and from player to player than in the results from
treatment of the instruments," Mr. Jones said.

The research was requested by Selmer Musical Instruments, a
wind instrument manufacturer, which was considering whether
to offer the cryogenic treatments for new instruments sold
from the Vincent Bach Stradivarius trumpet line. As a
result of the tests, the company has decided to forgo the
deep-freeze.

But others who have tried the deep-freeze say there is a
difference in ease of playing and in the range of "color"
in the tone.

In Arlington Heights, Ill., Wayne Tanabe, owner of the
Brass Bow music repair shop, said his advertising was by
word of mouth. "Otherwise, people think you're talking
about voodoo," he said.

He has a tub-size cryogenics tank where he can fit a tuba
and several trumpets. His freeze technique costs about $200
and takes 35 to 50 hours. As Mr. Tanabe explained it,
cryogenics accelerates what seems to happen to brass
instruments as they age. Sound quality improves because
resonance is clearer, he said.

Mr. Jones said studies had shown that while steel, for
example, did undergo change through freezing, brass did
not. Heating, by contrast, does soften metal, potentially
changing its acoustics.

The trumpet research is part a musical instrument
engineering program at Tufts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/18/science/18TRUM.html