Historical Influence
Historisches Museum Basel Jahresbericht 2008
What are the origins of the theory that timpani bowls are harmonic cavity resonators? The misconception of the bowl being a true air cavity resonator perhaps started innocently enough as many the early instrument developers and musicians did not have an understanding of musical acoustics and assumed through deduction that the timpani bowl served the same function as that of the body of many instruments. It wasn’t until 1877 that Lord Rayleigh properly identified and documented the function of the bowl as it related to the acoustic properties of timpani.
NB The original contents of this section has been moved to a new section: