Grace’s Arch & Music Blog

I watched a movie many years ago called The Bridges of Madison County. It is about a lifetime secret of an ordinary housewife in the 1960s. After her death, her lawyer notified the adult children and passed on her possessions. The two children found the secret of their mother’s life in her wooden box, with her diary, collected magazines and photos. The daughter reads her mother’s diary and finds out that her mother had an extramarital affair, and that her family does not know her passionate and romantic side at all. Her mother once struggled with her obligation to continue her traditional marriage or to follow her lover and soulmate’s life. The scene where the female lead – torn in two between these two possible futures – holds the car door handle remains really unforgettable.

A box that keeps secrets for so many years.

Acoustically, there is a shoe box principle (Schuhschachtel-Prinzip). That is where in the proportion of a space, the length is equal to the width plus height. Concert halls using this principle can convey world-class sound effects. For example, the architect Theophil von Hansen hit upon such a square design almost by chance when he designed the Goldene Saal (Golden Hall) in the Vienna Musikverein. This was later recognized by musicians as a world-class sound hall.

Why is this work a coincidence? Because real acoustic scientific research was not carried out until the 20th century, whereas Hanson built this concert hall at the end of the 19th century, a work created entirely by his own instincts.

An important element is the timing of the reverberating sound. Reverberating sound is an acoustic phenomenon in which sounds continue to exist after the sound source stops sounding. The reason for this is that the propagation of sound waves needs to be blocked and reflected by walls or surrounding obstacles until they disappear.

Another important point is the interior decoration, which helps the sound spread. The detail to note is that there should not be too many seats in the auditorium. These factors all affect the reverberation time. The Golden Hall is a sensitive place to reverberation; its reverberation length is two seconds.

In the past, as a poor student I occasionally bought tickets in the standing area. Although I sometimes was not able to see the live performers, I could hear the world-class sound while I got goose bumps. That really made me happy.

Countless concerts are held each year in the Golden Hall, the most famous being the annual New Year’s concert. The Vienna Philharmonic shares the world language that is music with the world on TV.

In this box, beautiful music is the secret.

盒子裡的秘密

多年前看的一部影片叫麥迪遜之橋。關於一個普通家庭主婦藏了一輩子的秘密。她過世後律師通知成人的孩子並轉交她的遺物。兩個子女在媽媽的木箱中找到她保存一生的秘密，有她寫的日記，收藏的雜誌和照片。女兒閱讀媽媽的日記，發現自己的媽媽竟然有一段婚外情，而且有他們不知道熱情又浪漫的那一面。媽媽曾經在繼續傳統婚姻的義務或追求與心靈相通的愛人生活中掙扎過。女主角在車上握著車門手把心中糾結的那一幕實在讓人忘不了。

一個盒子，保存了那麼多年的秘密。

在聲學上有一個鞋盒子的原理。也就是一個空間上的比例，長度等於寬加上高。使用這個原理建造的音樂廳可以傳達世界級的音效。例如維也納音樂協會裡的金色大廳就是因為偶然被建築師漢森用四方形設計 ，被之後的音樂家們公認是世界級音效好的音樂廳。

為什麼說這一個作品是一個偶然？因為真正聲學的科學研究是到了20世紀才被執行，漢森在19世紀末就建造了這一個音樂廳，完全是相信自己的直覺而創造的作品。

很重要的一個元素是混響的時間。 混響是聲源發音停止後聲音繼續存在的聲學現象。這產生的原因在於聲波的傳播需要被牆壁或周圍障礙物所阻礙並反射，一直到消失為止。還有很重要的一點是室內的裝飾，他們有助於聲音的傳播。還有要注意的一個細節是聽眾席的座位不能太多。這一些因素都會影響到混響的時間。像金色大廳是一個對混響很敏感的地方，她的混響長度是兩秒。

以前窮學生時偶爾會買音樂會的站票，雖然不一定看得到現場的表演者，但能夠感受到世界級的音感，在起雞皮疙瘩的同時，真的覺得很幸福。

每年無數的音樂會在金色大廳中舉行，最有名的算是每年的新年音樂會，維也納交響樂在電視上和全世界分享世界的語言。

美好的音樂，就是這盒子裡的秘密。