Amazing ancient acoustics accounted for

I’ve been to the ancient Greek ampitheatre at Epidaurus, built in the 4th century B.C. The acoustics really are incredible–you can hear a whisper on stage from the very top row.

I was there with the Harding University A Cappella Chorus during our European tour in the summer of 1982. (Which was–gulp!–25 years ago, wasn’t it? Let’s just pretend we didn’t notice.) Some of us sang–“Holy Radiant Light,” if I remember right–while others listened up in the seats. They said the acoustics were actually too good for choral music to sound right–instead of voices blending, they could pick out individual voices with ease.

Now researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have figured out how the Greeks pulled off this amazing feat. (The Greeks didn’t know themselves–they tried to duplicate it at other sites, but with limited success.) According to the researchers:

It’s not the slope, or the wind — it’s the seats. The rows of limestone seats at Epidaurus form an efficient acoustics filter that hushes low-frequency background noises like the murmur of a crowd and reflects the high-frequency noises of the performers on stage off the seats and back toward the seated audience member, carrying an actor’s voice all the way to the back rows of the theater.

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The Greeks’ misunderstanding about the role the limestone seats played in Epidaurus’ acoustics likely kept them from being able to duplicate the effect. Later theaters included different bench and seat materials, including wood, which may have played a large role in the gradual abandonment of Epidaurus’ design over the years by the Greeks and Romans…

The fact the seats filter out low frequencies may also account for the disappointing sound of choral music sung in the theatre–if nobody could hear us basses and baritones, how could the choir possibly sound good?

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2007/04/amazing-ancient-acoustics-accounted-for/

1 comment

    • Scrawney John Smith on April 5, 2007 at 7:29 pm
    • Reply

    If every place would follow God’s instructions for Solomon’s temple in 1 Kings 6:29 the acoustics would always be good. We just had a sound consultant help us determine how best to make our sanctuary acoustically… sound. Rounded forms on the walls diffuse the sound without eliminating them by absorption or producing echoes with huge, flat surfaces. Its just like the temple walls on which were carved (rounded, of course) cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. The renovation is in progress but the test results were fabulous.

    John Smith

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