instrument volume.

[KyleC]

yes a wierd topic indeed but im curious but i was just wondering how loud the potential loudness for instruments like piano, violin and stuff like that. i have heard that violin is not capeable of being very loud compared to say piano. but im sure piano's ability for ff wavers to some instrument. yes a bizzare topic but im curious which instruments are the loudest? and i suppose the softest as well. thanks. lol. strange question. i know.

[This message has been edited by KyleC (edited 12-14-2004).]

[Ateach Asc]

Originally posted by KyleC:

...im curious which instruments are the loudest? ...

The loudest instrument??? Possibly the pipe organ... like in Saint Saens' Symphony #3...

Other loud instruments? The bagpipes ... (esp at close range)

and also that big big big big big really big drum used in the 4th movement of LVB's 9th...


and let's not forget those solo singers way past their primes

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Must it be? It must be!

[This message has been edited by Ateach Asc (edited 12-14-2004).]

[Rutradelusasa]

I once heard that a wagnerian soprano could reach 120 dB . That's loud! That's as loud as been heard next to a boeing. Next to it's turbine!

I guess loudness has to do with how far sound gets, in that case, that really really very very big big big indeed drum (16 "vieneese" foot B. also deploys in Wellington's Siege) is quite loud. Trumpets are also very loud and horns if you ask players to play with the tube end (campana here and in italian, don't know the name in english) facing up. That's a hell of a sound.

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"Wer ein holdes weib errungen..."

[stude_ham]

Originally posted by KyleC:
im curious which instruments are the loudest?

Assuming no holds barred on the instruments used to perform musical presentations, then, due to electronics, all instruments can be roared past jet engines full blasting one micrometre from the ear.
Just go to any rock concert to understand this fundamental premise.

But if we limit the choices to the unaided classical instruments, then the pipe organ competes favourably (such as the in the sound of the Charles Marie Widor Toccata aka 5th Organ Symphony) or the massed voice of any choir belching that Gloria or final Amen of that Gloria in LVB's Missa Solemnis.




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There are many princes but only ONE Beethoven!

[urtextmeister]

Organs...I suppose it depends on the organ and how big it is and what pipes it has.

I think that, within, the realm of orchestral instruments,the brass are definitely the loudest. Trombones can be very loud, but trumpets have the higher pitch which makes a difference.
Next might be some reed instruments: saxophone and clarinet and oboe. Then flute and bassoon and finally strings.
Percussion and piano would be somewhere after the brass. Voice maybe about the same as flute and bassoon.
Guitar and harp would be near the bottom of the list.

I have no idea if this is accurate at all, but it was fun.

I think I could safely say that almost all instruments, as they evolved, have gotten louder.

I must say I admire recordings of rock music much more than the live concert. The few concerts that I have been to were so loud that I was no longer aware of any actual notes being played. It was just a general, unceasing loudness. There may have been talent involved, but it was impossible to tell.

[KyleC]

lol. yes i have been to some rock concerts and i know what you mean. You just here a constant noice and it becomes hard to tell individual notes especially with all the screaming and cheering. Yea i was thinking pipe organs would be, because they are humungous but that is kind of cheating. i mean if you took a trumpet and made it the size of a pipe organ and than had god knows what blow into it would be pretty loud to. but than again that is part of the instrument to be that big so i guess its not cheating its just not fair for the smaller instruments. lol