Balance, Instrument Range, and Human Hearing Range
Every once in a while, I wake up with what I call a 2:00 AM thought. It is an epiphany. Sometimes, it is about doing something that I have forgotten about. Other times, it is an idea for a composition or marching band show. This time, it was a chart showing why we have to balance things the way we do. Last month, I was given the opportunity to present at the West Tennessee State Band and Orchestra Association Conference on intonation; I will be presenting the session again at the Tennessee Music Educators Association Conference in April. Balance is such an important aspect of music performance, and it can often help mask small intonation issues. With balance, the idea of the McBeth Pyramid(s) of Sound come forward. Essentially, the pyramids are about balancing the ensemble from the bass voice up. The question remains: Why? I hope that this information helps explain why.
The Human Hearing Range is around 20Hz to 20,000HZ; this is around Eb0 to Eb10. The Optimum Range of hearing is 1,000Hz to 5,000Hz; this is around C6 to Eb8. The epiphany that I had is that we can compare the ranges of the different instruments to that of the optimum human hearing range.
When looking at the chart, the blue color represents the optimum range of each instrument. The red color represents the part of the range that is considered the extremities; often, this is the section of the instrument ranges that do not cut as well, are often masked in full ensemble moments, or have aspects that make their tone different (shrill, airy, mellow, etc.). For percussion, it really depends on the mallets that we choose to use on the various mallet instruments and the ranges that we are performing with those mallets. For timpani, mallets and the individual drum ranges come into play.
If we compare the optimum human hearing range to the standard band instruments, we notice that the instruments that we normally consider loud and shrill (piccolo, xylophone, and glockenspiel) are perfectly in that range. The instruments that we normally look for more energy from (Bassoon, Bass Clarinet, Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, and Timpani) are furthest from the optimum human hearing range. This is why the McBeth pyramid of sound works. The instruments that McBeth wanted us to balance to are the ones furthest from the optimum human hearing range. When we balance to these instruments and work on fitting each voice’s sound in to one another, we create an ideal balance.
When this concept came to my head, I drew it out on a marker board in the band room and shared it with the students. I have never seen a chart like this one out there showing the optimum range of human hearing compared to band instruments. All of the other directors and musicians I have talked to and shared this with had not either, so I worked with a friend to create this chart to share it with the music community. I hope that others can find this information helpful, and it can be used by educators and musicians. However, if others are wishing to use it in a publication or profit, please contact me.
