Orchestra Pits Research Articles

Proposed project to retrofit an orchestra pit with acoustic metadiffusers

There is a pressing need for effective acoustic diffusion treatment with a minimal thickness profile, in particular for the retrofitting of orchestra pits. Sound can reach dangerously high levels in these environments, but highly absorptive boundaries in an orchestra pit are usually not desirable, among other reasons because it compromises ensemble conditions. Implementing diffusion retroactively would be difficult, as there is often little space for such treatment. Acoustic metadiffusers offer a promising solution to this, but lack real-world testing and scalable production. This paper describes this knowledge gap, with a view to ultimately creating a target sound field optimised for musician's performance and safety. This would be made possible by the inherent flexibility of metamaterial design concepts, pointing towards the future development of metadiffusers, specifically as regards to their practical implementation. The aim is to be able to soon fill this knowledge gap, contributing to advancing the understanding of acoustic diffusion treatments. An early stage study will be the assessment of the differences between near and far fields produced by such scattering surfaces in order to be sure of the suitability of ultra thin diffusers for use as retrofitted treatment.

Needs of musicians during performance, without electronic amplification, in Concert Halls and Opera Houses

Drawing on experience of having listened to music in 60 concert halls and opera houses around the World, conducted experimental stage and orchestra pit modifications for live performance with audiences, analyzed the onset characteristics of musical instruments and their attack sequences; manipulated the distribution of acoustic energy using stage furniture with performer responses; and taught acoustics for 40 years, the author offers insights into the design of stages and orchestra pits for the performance of music without electronic amplification, in the context of his experience as a musician, architect, and engineer. In the orchestra pit of the Sydney Opera House: A second desk first violinist said he could not hear his instrument before the furniture was installed; and said after the furniture had been installed, “I am like thunder!” The tympani player asked, “What have you done? My instruments are alive!” In the Macquarie Auditorium, a violinist playing her Stradivarius violin said, “I used to dread playing in that auditorium now I am soaring.” The Australian Chamber orchestra refused to make a recording in the Gore Hill ABC TV Studio, without the stage furniture. What was done in several auditoria and responses from musicians is described in the paper.

The Effect of Orchestra Pit Diffusion on the Auditorium Acoustics of Opera House

A scale model of the Zhuhai Opera House, with 7 kinds of simulated orchestra pits, was made and analyzed in an experiment. The pulse response of the auditorium of the opera house was measured and analyzed. The results show that diffusion treatments for the orchestra pit can affect the sound transmission of stage source, increasing C80 and D50 in the rear part of the auditorium and can also affect the sound transmission of pit source, making the average value of G in the auditorium rise. As well, no significant changes were found on EDT and T20 under the diffusion treatment of the orchestra pit.

Sensitivity of stage acoustic parameters to source and receiver directivity: Measurements on three stages and in two orchestra pits

Stage acoustic parameters are commonly determined in concert halls using omnidirectional transducers, but might be more valid when using directional transducers. In this paper, the sensitivity of stage acoustic parameters to source and receiver directivity has been investigated by measurements on three stages and in two orchestra pits. A single loudspeaker was used with a directivity similar to a trumpet, aimed in 12 evenly spread directions. As a directional receiver, a head and torso simulator (HATS) was used with its viewing direction towards the conductor position. Measurements were also taken with (nearly) omnidirectional transducers. i.e. a dodecahedron loudspeaker and a single microphone. The investigated stage acoustic parameters measuring reverberation time and reflected sound levels were sensitive to the directivity of the measurement transducers. The parameters dealing with early sound, EDT and STearly,d, are more sensitive than the parameters dealing with late sound, T20 and STlate,d. When comparing results measured with a head and torso simulator to results measured with an omnidirectional microphone, the EDT tends to be lower and the STearly,d higher for the ear directed towards the sound source. The results of measurement using the directional source show that EDT and T20 have lowest values and STearly,d and STlate,d highest values, when the sound source is directed towards the closest surfaces that cause a first order reflection towards the receiver. Further research is necessary to determine whether the differences in parameter values would lead to noticeable differences.

A SHORT HISTORY OF CONDUCTING

7 4 Y A S H O R T H I S T O R Y O F C O N D U C T I N G J O H N M A U C E R I It didn’t begin in a particularly mysterious way. Any group of musicians – whether they were monks in a ninth-century monastery or instrumentalists hired by an eighteenth-century Hungarian prince – always needed a leader: someone to run a rehearsal , someone everyone looked at to start a piece and perhaps to indicate its ebb and flow. In most cases, it was the composer. The job of the conductor as we know it today came into its own in the middle and late nineteenth century, and not without a certain amount of controversy from those who would have preferred a less overt organizer. Robert Schumann called conducting ‘‘a mania’’ and ‘‘a necessary evil’’ in 1836, and Giuseppe Verdi was horrified to learn that conductors were taking a bow, since he saw them only as necessary functionaries in the performance of his operas. In 1872, he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, ‘‘But now it is the style to applaud conductors too, and I deplore it.’’ You can sympathize with Verdi’s point of view. Most of his operas, including Rigoletto and La Traviata, were performed before the era of conductors and before opera houses were redesigned to have orchestra pits. Led by the principal violinist from a position among the orchestra players in front of the stage, the 7 5 R ‘‘leader’’ sometimes had to interrupt his playing to make signals to the singers and musicians using his bow. Toward the end of Verdi’s long career, which extended into the 1890s, a conductor was for the first time taking charge of rehearsals and performances of his Aida, Otello, and Falsta√ at La Scala, while Verdi sat in his seat – or ran down the aisle to protest something he did not like, which apparently was fairly often. That the role of a conductor became essential is inextricably linked to the development of Western music itself and the proliferation of concert halls and opera houses in cities. It was both a practical and a musical solution. The practical one is the development of notation – the indications of how a musical work should be played, written down so that the performer can replicate them without having heard the piece beforehand, and without the presence of the composer in person. It started out as a kind of security device, once the idea of performing a symphony without the composer’s physical presence became the new normal, an impossible task to execute without his or her intentions clearly represented on the pages of the musical score. Remember that the vast majority of music, ever since the very beginnings of humanity’s desire to sing and dance, was passed on and invented by rote and imitation. For example, we have no precise idea of what the music played in Cleopatra’s court sounded like – though we know what instruments were used from the drawings and paintings left behind – since the remnants of its notational system are not understood. Something of the sound probably exists in the current folk music of Egypt, passed down for thousands of years. We can only imagine it, as Verdi did in his score to Aida in 1871, as Alex North did for his score to the film Cleopatra in 1963, and as Samuel Barber did in his 1966 opera Antony and Cleopatra. This is not true of the music of Bach and Mozart, whose music exists and whose notation is understood. Though stylistic details will always be a matter of interpretation, we do know the entire scores of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Without notation we would have only vague echoes of Bach and Mozart in our current music; we could never have a performance of the repertory we hold so precious today. The notation system that developed over the centuries and is 7 6 M A U C E R I Y currently used worldwide began with the Roman Catholic Church and its desire to...

How orchestra members influence stage acoustic parameters on five different concert hall stages and orchestra pits.

Stage acoustic parameters aim to quantify the amount of sound energy reflected by the stage and hall boundaries and the energy decay over time. In this research, the effect of orchestra presence on parameter values is investigated. The orchestra is simulated by dressed mannequins, which have been compared with humans with respect to acoustic properties. Impulse response measurements were performed in a concert hall, a theatre, a rehearsal room, and in two orchestra pits. Conditions were empty stage floors, stage floors with music stands and chairs only, and floors occupied by the mannequin orchestra. Results show that the direct and reflected sound levels and the energy decay are significantly affected by the orchestra compared to an empty stage or a stage with chairs and stands only. Both the direct sound and early reflected sound levels are reduced by the orchestra with the distance. The late reflected sound level is reduced considerably more than can be expected based on Barron's revised theory. It can be concluded that measurements on a stage without the orchestra being present results in significant differences. A practical method is presented to perform a "musician friendly" stage acoustic measurement with a real orchestra.

Medicine in small doses.

Medicine in small doses.

Opera acoustics in multi-use performing arts centers

There is very little information available on practical solutions for designing acoustics for an orchestra pit. This paper guides the reader through a brief history of orchestra pits and how to design them for the modern multi-use halls used by opera companies. Musicians generally abhor playing in a pit. They feel it is crowded, hot, loud, and a horrible environment in which to hear themselves and other musicians. The acoustician’s goal is to improve the acoustic environment within the pit and find the optimal projection of music to the audience and stage. Drawings and details along with photos from pits designed for halls around the world will be presented from Mark Holden’s new book Acoustic of Multi-Use Performing Arts Centers published by CRC Press in January.

Improving listening conditions in partially covered opera pits or “The strings are working so hard…why can’t I hear them?"

Since the introduction of the gargantuan orchestra to the world of opera by Wagner, opera house designers have been faced with the question of whether to place the orchestra in an open pit, a covered pit, or a partially covered pit. The open pit has long been favored by musicians but has it operational and economical drawbacks, including often large distances from conductor to singer, challenging pit/stage balance conditions, and reduced audience seating close to the stage. A fully covered pit works well for the special works that the Bayreuth master intended for this condition, but is inappropriate for the rest of the core operatic repertoire. The partially covered pit where some upstage musicians play under the stage is conceptually advantageous for a number of reasons, but can present challenges in uneven listening conditions within the orchestra (excessive loudness, ensemble difficulties) and in the house. In some instances, musician complaints have resulted in regulatory action. This paper explores the root causes of ensemble issues commonly found in partially-covered orchestra pits and presents specific solutions drawn from the consulting (and conducting) experience of the authors.

Early and Late Support Measured over Various Distances: The Covered versus Open Part of the Orchestra Pit

The Early and Late Support parameters (STearly and STlate) are used to describe acoustic conditions on stage. Recently, extended Support parameters have been introduced which can be measured at various distances: STearly,d and STlate,d. This way, the amount of reflected sound energy can be studied for sound paths with distances between source and receiver larger than 1 meter. Occasionally, Early and Late Support are also used to investigate orchestra pits. Using the extended Support parameters, the mutual support from reflections between the positions in the open and covered part of the orchestra pit has been investigated. It is found that, when plotting STearly,d as a function of distance, three different trends are found each having a distinctive shape for different types of source and receiver positions: both positions in the open part; both positions in the covered part; and just one of both positions in the open or covered part. When comparing the different trends, a large increase is found in early reflected sound energy when either source or receiver or both are in the covered part of the pit. In the covered part, at 1 meter distance the level of reflected sound can even be in the same order of magnitude as the direct sound. When considering the late reflected sound energy it was found that STlate,d was not dependent on the source to receiver distance and less difference was found between the open and covered part of the orchestra pit.

Improving orchestra pits for the benefit of musicians

Increased publicity regarding hearing loss in those working in the music and entertainment sectors and the need to meet compliance with the UK Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 has heightened the importance and need to reduce noise exposure of professional classical musicians. Advice on hearing protection for musicians often concludes that ear plugs are the most effective, although often problematic, noise mitigation measure and hence the need for alternative solutions. With the full co-operation of the Royal Academy of Music the noise exposure of musicians has been investigated to establish their typical noise dose. It was found that the orchestra pit was the most challenging environment, primarily limited by available space. To mitigate the noise dose of the musicians' two approaches were taken – changing the design of the pit and developing new zero footprint acoustic screens. The later involved developing a hybrid absorbing screen that could be place on music stands. The former involved detailed room acoustic measurements and acoustical computer simulation of the theatre. The solutions provided a measured and predicted reduction in noise level of between 5-8 dBA for all the musicians without affecting the musical perception of either the conductor or audience.

Sousa Marches

Sousa Marches Jennifer Judkins John Philip Sousa. Six Marches. Edited by Patrick Warfield. (Recent Researches in American Music, 69.) (Music of the United States of America, 21.) Middleton, WI: Published for the American Musicological Society by A-R Editions, Inc., 2010. [Foreword, p. ix; acknowledgments, p. xi–xii; The Sousa March: From Publication to Performance, p. xiii–xli; 9 plates, 5 p.; score, p. 3–93; apparatus, p. 95–133; bibliography, p. 135–40. ISBN 0-89579-675-9, ISBN-13/EAN 978-0-89579-675-2. $166.] Contains: The Washington Post, The Liberty Bell, El Capitan, The Stars and Stripes Forever, Sabre and Spurs, George Washington Bicentennial. No one has had a greater influence on wind band music than John Philip Sousa (1854–1932). Under Sousa’s baton, the United States Marine Band—“The President’s Own”—became the gold standard for concert bands around the globe. Those of us in the field today still marvel at his innovations in scoring and his dramatic approach to concertizing. For years Sousa’s band gave exceptionally well-received performances in the Washington, DC, area and on their extensive United States and European tours. Developing and maintaining this hectic concert schedule required a level of promotional acumen and logistical organization never before engaged for a wind group. Patrick Warfield gives us a superb introductory study in addition to a meticulously researched performance edition of these six marches: The Washington Post, The Liberty Bell, El Capitan, The Stars and Stripes Forever, Sabre and Spurs, and George Washington Bicentennial. These marches were selected out of Sousa’s total output of 130, because they span his entire career: The Washington Post was composed just as he began to achieve national fame; The Liberty Bell dates from Sousa’s transition from military to civilian life; El Capitan was derived from his most successful operetta; The Stars and Stripes Forever was composed on the death of his manager; Sabres and Spurs is representative of Sousa’s reaction to World War I; and George Washington Bicentennial was written at a time when Sousa was an icon who had turned almost exclusively to march composition. (p. xxiv) Warfield’s edition provides copious front material, meticulously cited, with generous bibliographical references for both Sousa and American musical culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Warfield states that the purpose of this edition is “to reproduce each march’s blueprint as it was originally published and to show how Sousa himself adapted that blueprint in performance” (p. xxvii). Sousa was, first of all, an accomplished and experienced musician. From a young age he played violin and conducted in the orchestra pits of local theaters in Washington, DC, and apprenticed in the Marine Band. He was exposed to many different kinds of music, and early on he composed operettas, songs, dance pieces, and instrumental solos as needed for an array of venues. By the 1880s, as Warfield remarks, Sousa was “Washington’s most prominent musician” (p. xvi), and he was in demand as a conductor of orchestras, choral groups, and the Marine Band itself. Sousa was one of the charter members of ASCAP, and he later became one of the most vocal proponents of royalties for sound recordings, testifying before congress on this topic in 1906. [End Page 174] Unlike today, at that time the Marine Band did not have government funding for tours, and the military musicians were available only a few weeks a year when they had leave, greatly limiting travel plans. By 1892, Sousa had left the Marine Corps, taking many players with him, to form a professional band that went on to play at the Chicago World’s Fair and the St. Louis Exposition (in 1893), the Paris Exhibition (in 1900), followed by a tour of Great Britain in 1901. Sousa joined the navy during World War I, and although he continued to wear his officers uniform when he conducted, after the Great War the band was never quite the same. Warfield reminds us that these marches were malleable by design, and that “To publish his marches with complete performance directions would have enabled other bands to mimic the Sousa sound, thus lowering his own ensemble...

The inclusion of diffraction effects in room acoustical modeling.

This paper will give a brief overview of some alternatives for including diffraction effects in computational room acoustics. Geometrical acoustics is the basis for most computer modeling methods in room acoustics, and both deterministic and stochastic approaches are used. The image source method and the beam tracing method dominate for the former, and ray tracing for the latter. Deterministic methods are used for sequences of specular reflections, and diffraction effects are straightforward to include in such methods. Paths that involve at least one diffuse reflection are usually handled by ray tracing and recent work has suggested how to implement diffraction in ray tracing. The inclusion of diffraction effects might offer more accurate modeling, most notably for free‐hanging reflectors, orchestra pits, balcony edges, etc. The boundary condition issue will be discussed since diffraction solutions that are useful in room acoustics exist only for ideally rigid surfaces. Underlying approximations in some formulations will be mentioned, and computational aspects will be described, including the huge number of diffraction paths that are generated in a room, with a corresponding huge range of amplitudes. Special attention will be given to singularity issues and an attempt at an outlook for the near future will be offered.

Acoustical characterization of orchestra platforms

In concert halls and other performance spaces it is important that acoustic conditions allow the musicians to hear each other and that there is a sufficient response from the room. Acoustical characterization of spaces for musicians, such as orchestra platforms, orchestra pits, and rehearsal rooms requires the measurements of the Early and Late Support, and other acoustical parameters described in the ISO/DC 3382-1 and in Literature. This work shows results from measurements carried out on five orchestra platforms, different in shape, size and materials of the boundary surfaces. Up to eight source positions were chosen in order to represent the main instrumental sections of the orchestra playing on the platform. Measurements were carried out without musicians, in conditions of empty stage and stage equipped as in concert configuration with stands, chairs, and risers. Some metrological problems connected with the reproducibility of results are considered as the directivity of the source and the small movements of the source and the microphone. The correlations between objective data show that the measured parameters are not always independent, but some groups of correlated measures, not completely separated, are found. The comparison of results allows to draw some connections with the main stage architectural features.

Resonant cavities and acoustics vases in Italian Opera Houses; the "Teatro Principal" of Valencia and the eighteenth century treatises about theatres

This paper describes the research job carried out at Polytechnic University of Valencia -Spain- about resonant cavities placed under the orchestra pits of Italian Opera Houses, and others acoustics mechanisms like this one. The Teatro Principal of Valencia was built following the project developed by the Italian architect Felipe Fontana in 1774 and it opened its doors in 1832. Fifteen years ago, in the last architectonic intervention in this theatre, almost a hundred of acoustic vases were found in one of those resonant cavities. What acoustics role they accomplish? How they "functioned"? This was the starting point to study this kind of artifices, throughout the eighteenth century European treatises about theatres and in our Teatro Principal.

Is the audiologic status of professional musicians a reflection of the noise exposure in classical orchestral music?

The sound in classical orchestral music is louder than noise emissions allowed by national rules in industry. We wanted to assess the audiologic status of professional musicians at different ages of their careers and to look for a coherence of declined hearing ability and the sound emissions in order to substantiate advices for hearing protection and occupational medicine in musicians. Data from questionnaires (anamnestic data on sound exposure in profession and leisure times, use of hearing protection, self-evaluation of hearing function and hearing deficits), audiometric data and amplitudes of OAE were evaluated from 109 professional musicians aged 30-69 years from three major German orchestras and from 110 students of an academy of music (aged 11-19 years). Sound emissions of the whole orchestra and of single instruments/instrument groups were measured at the orchestra stages and pits during rehearsals and performances. None of the musicians was engaged in noisy hobbies and only a few used hearing protectors regularly. More than 50% of the musicians had a hearing loss of 15 dB(A) and more. Highest losses were found among the strings and the brass players. DPOAE amplitudes coincidently declined with the duration of performing music in the orchestras. Professional musicians aged older than 60 years had a significantly greater hearing loss at 4 and 6 kHz than those aged 30-39 years. Among the strings in one orchestra a dominant hearing deficit in the left ears was observed. Musicians need the same health care for their hearing as workers in noisy industry. A better education on the hearing hazards (use of hearing protectors) as well as sound protection in the rehearsal rooms is necessary. Hearing loss in professional musicians should be accepted as an occupational disease.

Musicians’ noise exposure in orchestra pit

Sound exposures of Canadian Opera Company orchestra players were measured to assess the risk of hearing loss of players in orchestra pits. This was done during 18 sessions that included rehearsals, dress rehearsals and actual performances of two operas. Seventy-three noise exposures of musicians were measured using five dosimeters for the entire duration (3 h) of each event. The measured estimate, L eq, from which the L ex was calculated using the numbers of hours per year played by the musicians of the Canadian Opera Company. Following the ISO 1999 Standard, results indicate that, playing for the company does not pose risk of hearing loss for the players.

Improving the acoustic working conditions for musicians in small spaces

In the acoustic consulting, testing, design and engineering work of the Fraunhofer-Institute of Building Physics (IBP) the low-frequency end of the noise spectra and the room acoustic conditioning has gained tremendous importance over the years. For solving the long-ranging noise pollution from e.g. exhaust stacks and chimneys, a series of low-frequency sound attenuators with minimum flow resistance were developed. Its first representative was a novel membrane absorber [10] [Ackermann U, et al., Sound absorbers of a novel membrane construction. Applied Acoustics 1998;25:197–215]. Thanks to its slenderness and ruggedness it could also be employed for noise control and reverberation adjustment purposes in relatively narrow enclosures and harsh environments [11,12] [Vér IL. Enclosures and wrappings. In: Harris CM, editor. Handbook of acoustical measurements and noise control. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991; Fuchs HV, Hunecke J. The room plays its part at low frequencies. Das Musikinstrument 1993;42:40–6 (in German). Meanwhile a new type of panel absorber has been optimized for both kinds of application. Its absorption efficiency at frequencies far below 100 Hz could be demonstrated and quantified by a special measuring procedure based on the reverberation of a small rectangular room at its eigenfrequencies [3] (Zha X, et al. Measurements of an effective absorption coefficient below 100 Hz. Acoustics Bulletin 1999;24:5–10). With the aid of this novel tool it is now possible to qualify reverberation rooms and anechoic chambers for frequencies down to 63 and 31 Hz, respectively [9] (Fuchs HV, et al. Qualifying freefield and reverberation rooms for frequencies below 100 Hz. Applied Acoustics 2000;59:303–22). In a companion paper in this same journal [4] [Fuchs HV, et al.: Creating low-noise environments in communication rooms. Applied Acoustics (in print)] appropriate experience is reported in creating low-noise environments in multi-purpose rooms like offices, restaurants, foyers and seminars. A number of representative case studies [5] (Drotleff H, et al. : Attractive acoustic design of multi-purpose halls. 1. Chinese–German Platform Innovative Acoustics 2000, (October, 21–25. 2000)) show ample evidence that the low-frequency performance of the rooms has a strong influence on both the amplification of intruding external noise and the development of internally generated noise emanating from communication processes provoked by the users themselves. At work places where producing sound (by voices or/and instruments) is the main or only purpose for their existence, the acoustic qualification of the room at low frequencies turns out to be of the utmost importance, especially when musicians are forced to work in extremely narrow spaces like orchestra pits and rehearsal halls for many hours a day and often under extreme physical and mental pressure. The measures taken and described herein have proven to mitigate if not remove some of the acoustic burden put on musicians employed in states theatres.

Orchestra pit acoustics: From Bayreuth to Broadway

The design of orchestra pits for opera, ballet, and multiuse halls is examined from an historical perspective. The earliest orchestra pit designs for early European opera houses were open or ‘‘bathtub’’ pits holding few musicians on a single level. Pits remained similar until 1872 when Wagner’s Bayreuth pit changed the musician/vocalist orientation by extending the pit below the stage edge in stepped tiers. Modern pit designs have varied from large ‘‘bathtub’’ pits (the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco) to ‘‘modified Bayreuth’’ pits (Houston, Seattle, etc.) with varying degrees of success. Issues concerning musicians’ comfort, loudness levels, and hearing loss are discussed along with ways to improve acoustics in the overhung area. Finishes and materials for walls, ceilings, and floors are discussed as well as adjustable acoustic panels, drapes, and walls that can be used to tune the pit for varying programs. Finally, solutions to the dilemma of Bayreuth versus Bathtub pits will be discussed.

Sound fields in orchestra pits

The main problem for musicians sitting in opera house orchestra pits is the general loudness of the orchestral sound. The sound field occurring at the musicians’ ears is not only affected by direct sound, early reflections, and reverberation, but—particularly for seats under the stage—by standing waves. Whereas direct sound and diffuse reflections appear to come from comparatively large distances, the sound due to standing waves is localized just around the head. Therefore, it is extremely disturbing for the players, impairing the tonal control of their own instruments as well as the ease of ensemble. Disturbing direct sound may be reduced (5–10 dB) by special screens directly behind the musician’s head. Standing waves between the floor and cover of the pit are critical if the musicians’ ears are in the neighborhood of the antinodes; this does not occur with the lowest mode, but for modes having two or three half-wavelengths, assuming the ears at a height of 1.15 m above the floor. Therefore, a distance between floor and cover of 2.0–2.75 m (or below 1.80 m) may be recommended, as in these cases only one disturbing mode occurs which can be damped by well-tuned absorption.