# Technological innovations



## Buxtehude (Jun 14, 2018)

What technological innovations had an impact on classical music, in its conception, performance, and reception? By technology, I mean something tangible, not an intellectual innovation like sonata form or atonality.

I will mention one that may not be as obvious or as significant as others. The addition of valves to brass instruments (in the second quarter of the 19th century) gave musicians increased range, flexibility and accuracy. This in turn gave composers the ability to expand the utility and vocabulary of the brass choir in ensembles, seen in the expansion of this voice in symphonic and even small ensemble literature. Of course, horns had been previously very important, but there is a significant difference in how the brass choir was treated before and after this innovation.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Materials science in general - it was the metallurgists who made new alloys that allowed for the rapid development of all brass instruments. Piston (later rotary) valves were so important as you point out. But it also allowed for the development larger and louder instruments. The saxophone depended on metal skills that were new. The development of high tension steel led to the string family changing from gut strings to metal and with it increased volume, longer string life, and alas, a change in the sound. For drums, metal shells and rims (and lug nuts) allow for head tension impossible in the old days, when wood and ropes were used.

The development of plastics revolutionized all sections of the orchestra but maybe none more than percussion. Today, there are few players still using calf skin heads on drums. Plastics all the way for the last 60-70 years and it's been great. Much easier maintenance, much longer head life, cheaper...and the ability to play at volume levels inconceivable with calf skin. Yes, the sound is different. Sticks - wood still preferred by a huge margin. I use aluminum handles for bass drum, everything else is wood. Plastic heads on glockenspiel are a nice touch. Prior to that it was almost exclusively brass heads with a bright, clear tone.

In the past 100 years the effect of the phonograph, radio, and later TV, on performing classical music has been tremendous and whole books can be written about it. Not the place, here.

On the downside: the electronic tuner. Now I know that when students are learning that a tuner is a great tool and they have been for a long time. Even in the days of the vacuum tube, the Conn Strobotuner was a magnificent aid. But nowadays I see musicians with a tuner always attached to their horn with a pickup and they make sure every note is perfectly in tune. It's in tune with the tuner, but not with everyone else. They've stopped listening, using their ears, and put all of their faith in the tuner. Mistake! A B-flat in a g-minor chord is not the same B-flat in an E-flat major chord. Unless you're a pianist or organist, they must be adjusted ever so slightly - it's one of those things great orchestras do without thinking. I have a similar issue with using iPads for music instead of printed music. But I'm a dinosaur and just can't switch.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

"A B-flat in a g-minor chord is not the same B-flat in an E-flat major chord. Unless you're a pianist or organist, they must be adjusted ever so slightly - it's one of those things great orchestras do without thinking."

That's exactly right! The note functions differently in a different scale and the pitch is adjusted for that.
.
Great technological innovation? _Single groove full stereo records were finally perfected by 1957 and were sold by 1958. They were an instant sensation._


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2018)

I would probably give the experimental electronic music studios from the 40s to the 60s credit for a lot of the important techniques of music production, sound diffusion, stereo/surround sound technology, acoustical knowledge that has influenced not only classical music but also pop and rock music as well. IRCAM is leading the way at the moment.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The Bohm flute. The Higgs bassoon.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

And of course the invention of plastic, which made possible the production of huge numbers of cheap soprano recorders...


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

MarkW said:


> The Higgs bassoon.


Very cute...my bassoon playing quantum mechanics teacher would have loved it.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Buxtehude said:


> What technological innovations had an impact on classical music, in its conception, performance, and reception?


You are basically asking a question that covers the whole period of classical music. There is at least one book that just deals with the evolution of the piano. While I am greatly impressed by anyone who can get music out of a natural horn, I admit that I much prefer the control possible with keys.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Buxtehude said:


> What technological innovations had an impact on classical music, in its conception, performance, and reception? By technology, I mean something tangible, not an intellectual innovation like sonata form or atonalit.


I think the piano made the greatest impact, at least pre-20th century. This is not only in terms of how that century saw the evolution of that instrument to more or less what we have today in a modern piano, but also in terms of how it opened up access to classical music beyond the confines of the courts to the broader public, the emerging middle classes, in the salons and concert halls.

By the end of the century, upright pianos became a common feature in people's homes, and they would play everything from popular songs of the time to reductions of classical pieces. Piano manufacture became an important industry in both Europe and the USA, and composers responded to the possibilities of different makes of grand pianos, bringing about music that mirrors this variety (even between just the three big innovators - Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt).

Thad Carhart's "The Piano Shop of the Left Bank" is a wonderful book on this subject. The author was living in Paris and happened to pass what looked like a dingy shop everyday when he took his daughter to school. He visited out of curiosity and discovered it was a piano shop with a difference, one where old instruments where restored. This reawakened an interest in piano playing which he had lost since childhood. He not only purchased an instrument and resumed lessons after decades but made friends with the owner, who shared with him this passion for music. Its a unique book, reading like a journal and journey through history. Its one of the most enjoyable and informative books I've read on the subject of music.


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