Henna Tahvanainen: An acoustician’s exploration at the nexus of guitar craftsmanship and technology
When: Wednesday 29nd November 2023 @ 5:15 PM
Where: The Atrium (G.10), Alison House, 12 Nicholson Sq, University of Edinburgh
Title: An acoustician’s exploration at the nexus of guitar craftsmanship and technology.
Speakers: Henna Tahvanainen (University of Bologna)
Abstract
This talk delves into the intriguing role of an acoustician at the crossroads of science and lutherie, focusing on the guitar industry. The discussion centres on the research that goes into understanding the sound and vibration of guitars, and how new technologies can be applied in guitar making and string instrument making in general.
Henna is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Bologna within the NEMUS project working on numerical restoration of the harpsichord and kantele. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Theoretical Physics from University of Helsinki (2009), and Master’s (2012) and PhD (2021) degrees in Acoustics and Audio Signal Processing from Aalto University. She has also obtained a professional teacher certificate from the Tampere University of Applied Sciences. She has previously worked as a research engineer on acoustic guitars at Yamaha, Japan, and as an acoustic consultant specialised in ground-born vibration modelling and measurement. She is also a part-time lecturer in Digital Signal Processing and Acoustics at UniArts Helsinki. She serves as a board member of the Acoustical Society of Finland and the EAA Technical Committee on Musical Acoustics. Henna is passionate about understanding, modelling, and developing all kinds of string instruments. She is a hobbyist player and an amateur maker of kantele.