An expensive and inconvenient (and undoubtedly unhealthy) means to getting a more resonant tone:
In the wake of the floor refinishers, all of the rooms south of the kitchen in my house are empty. Nothing on the walls, no furniture, dependents, TV, spaniels, or other sound absorbers. I took my flute in there last night after the finish had a couple of days to dry, and, my goodness, what a sound–not quite Paul Horn playing in the Taj Mahal (anyone else remember that recording?), but fun, although I guess Jem would disapprove of the reverb.
Dome of the 48" Schmidt Telescope at Siding springs Observatory in the Warrumbungle Ranges in northern NSW.
Unfortunately, playing right at the exact focal point is made less easy because some inconsiderate astronomers have left a dirty big telescope right in the middle of the room. They don’t seem to use it much during the daytime…
Nothing wrong with a naturally reverberant acoustic, though how pleasant it is depends on its precise qualities. The railway tunnel/sports hall/bottom-of a well type echoey acoustic can be amusing, but I suggest only briefly, and isn’t “good” (because ultimately neither the player nor a listener can really clearly hear what is going on/intended.)
The nicest natural acoustic I’ve yet played (some years ago) in was the parish church (truncated former Abbey) at Much Wenlock: made my flute (playing solo) sound huge and rich, moderately reverberant without being echoey, let/made it fill an enormous space with sound effortlessly, had me exploring dynamics in a way I’d never really found feasible before in the constant battle just to feel as though one is projecting adequately in most acoustic circumstances, including practicing alone at home. It wasn’t at all boomy, just very “present”. In that acoustic, with the feedback it gave me so that I felt I was to some extent experiencing what an audience member might be hearing (which we don’t usually get from “behind” the instrument), I was able easily to be much more expressive with far less effort, even had to hold back, could play with much greater subtlety because I could both hear it myself and knew it was projecting. It actually gave me an almost revelatory experience with regard to the material I was playing.
One might presume that is something like the experience a classical instrumentalist playing in a good concert hall with well designed acoustics expects routinely. I really enjoyed it, at any rate, and I think being able to play in such good acoustics regularly would make one (/demand that one become?) a far better player.
Wall-to-wall carpeting, and insulated ceilings, are both acoustic nightmares and relatively recent widespread.
My kitchen, with no carpet, gives a much better volume than other rooms.
In the days of chamber music, even a grand dwelling would have had far less ‘stuff’ - furniture and the like- in the rooms; and bare reverberant walls and floors.
Has anyone tried a flute in an extensively wood-panelled room with bare flooring?
Mid-late Victorian though…hmmm. No lack of flock wallpaper, heavy carpets, oodles of furniture (usually upholstered), massive accumulation of little cluttery things…
Maybe that’s why a bigger-holed louder flute model arose then.
Yes, nowadays we seek out our kitchens, bathrooms, garages …
I also sometimes practice into a microphone with a bit of controlled reverb, in my office area which is acoustically fairly dead. It’s not only satisfying, but good preparation for when you find yourself playing in a live venue with a lot of slap-back echo - which can be very disorienting unless you’re prepared.