Hill Auditorium celebrated 100 years and a special kind of acoustic excellence. The presentation was given to Saturday Morning Physics and University Music Society guests. Video of the original presentation is available at: http://lecb.physics.lsa.umich.edu/CWIS/browser.php?ResourceId=4381

1. BRAVO!
A Cultural Crossroads of Physics and the Performing Arts

2. The Zen of Tony Bennett – Palladium: Carmel, Indiana
Excellent Venue. Even Tony Bennett commented on the acoustics!!
--Trip Advisor reviewer
Photograph © Kevin Raber

3. The Zen of Tony Bennett – Sydney Opera House
Exposed completely, without the aid of the http://sydneyoperahouse.aussieblogs
.com.au/sydney-opera-house-
microphone, the entertainer reveled in the seating/
acoustics of the venue and closed the show
with Fly Me To The Moon. Tony Bennett’s
embracing smile, cheerful nature and the
pizzazz he brings to jazz standards and
show tunes not only explain his enduring
longevity but merely scratch the surface as
to why this man can charm the hearts of so
many.
-- The Music Network, by Loretta D'Urso

4. The Zen of Tony Bennett –
Bass Hall: Fort Worth, Texas
It's a trick Tony Bennett has repeated at a handful
of venues across the country and around the world,
but once you see it, you never forget it. Near the
end of some performances, the now 86-year-old
New York City native sets down his microphone,
steps to the foot of the stage, and belts Fly Me to
the Moon with no amplification beyond the lungs
in his chest. (It's been four years since I saw
Bennett do this before a rapt Bass Hall audience,
and I can still recall the moment vividly.) The
show-stopping finale is a testament to not only his
peerless skill as a singer, but usually the superb
acoustics of the halls he finds himself routinely
selling out.
--By Preston Jones, www.DFW.com

5. The Zen of Tony Bennett –
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
There was a moment at Tony Bennett’s last
Liverpool concert that will live long in the
memory. Demonstrating the excellent acoustics of
the Philharmonic Hall, the man who Frank Sinatra
called “the best singer in the business” asked for
all the microphones to be switched off and he sang
a cappella. When I am in a beautiful theatre such
as the Philharmonic where I know the acoustics
are correct and the audience was so responsive
that evening that I like to do a song completely
acoustically, says Tony, 85.
-- by Jade Wright, Liverpool Echo
Photo from the Threshold Acoustics Project File

6. Last weekend my myriad travels took me
to Pittsburgh, where I was able to visit The Zen of Tony Bennett
Heinz Hall to watch Tony Bennett defy Heinz Hall: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
nature and astound a packed house with
his latest concert wizardry. Heinz Hall sits
in the middle of a revitalized downtown
Pittsburgh and has been wondrously
restored, with gold-leafed columns, plush
red carpeting and chic dining facilities.
Years ago, Lena Horne insisted that
Bennett include the venerable venue on his
tours to experience its amazing acoustics.
This time around Bennett celebrated the
concert hall's legendary sound quality by
turning the microphones off in a clever bit
of showmanship and singing an a capella
gem.
-- By NICK CATALANO, All About Jazz
Posted by Sherry Davis at Monday, October 22, 2012

7. The Zen of Tony Bennett
Winspear Opera House: Dallas, Texas
Wow, Tony Bennett .....
You know he's singing
live when he sings his
last song without a mic!
#speechless best
concert ever 11:23pm -
24 Aug 12
Photo: Andreas Praefcke
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

8. The Zen of Tony Bennett
Fox Theatre: Atlanta, Georgia
For years, at a point in each show at the Fox
here in Atlanta, you’ve paid tribute to the
venue’s acoustics by turning off all the
amplification in the theater and bouncing your
voice off the back wall. Are you still doing
that? Oh, sure. I always look forward to that.
Anytime I can do that, I love to do it. There
aren’t a lot of those places left. You’ve got to
take advantage of those perfect acoustics
whenever you have the chance.
--Rich Eldredge, Atlanta Magazine
Photo: Sara Foltz
http://bespokemagazineonline.com/the-fox-theatre-atlanta/

9. The Zen of Tony Bennett
Academy of Music:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Bennett also was quick to acknowledge how much
he enjoyed playing Philadelphia, and most
especially appearing in the Academy of Music,
which he called a great concert hall, one of the
best in the world. As a way of proving that the
acoustics at the Academy are second to none, he
asked that his sound man turn off the sound, and
he sang his next song without a microphone. Even
those in the fourth balcony could hear every word.
-- By Rita Charleston, Northeast Times Star
Photo: Nick Kelsh
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/shen-yun-
philadelphia-26710.html

10. The Zen of Tony Bennett
Peabody Auditorium: Daytona Beach, Florida
And, as is his custom, http://www.ticketsinventory.com/concert/jacksonville-symphony-tickets/daytona-
beach-city.php
Bennett delivered a song
without microphone at all,
showing on Fly Me to the
Moon that age hasn’t hurt
his pipes. He praised the
acoustics of the old
Peabody, adding that most
of the new rooms are like
filing cabinets.
-- by Jim Abbott,
Soundboard, The Blog

11. The Zen of Tony Bennett
Van Wezel Performing Arts Center: Sarasota, Florida
Legend performers such
as Tony Bennett have
been known to express
their regard of the
acoustical dynamics by
stopping the orchestra to
present an acappella solo
to the audience in
appreciation.
-- from the website for
Roskamp Auditorium
Photo by Holt Harmon
http://blog.dso.org/wp-
content/uploads/2010/02/DSCN9726aint.jpg

12. http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2010/04/tony- The Zen of Tony Bennett
bennett-razzles-and-dazzles-at-the-meyerson/
Morton H. Meyerson Concert Hall:
Dallas, Texas
It’s too bad that the late Russell Johnson, the famed
acoustician whose legacy can be heard by anyone who’s ever
attended a concert at the Meyerson Symphony Center, isn’t
buried inside the hall… I’d like to think he was close at hand
as the legendary Tony Bennett paid the ultimate tribute to
Johnson’s work during a performance Monday night. As he
neared the end of his show at the Meyerson, Bennett put
down his microphone and belted out a beautiful rendition of
Fly Me to the Moon that sounded as clear and crisp from
where I sat near the back of the hall as any song in the
program. The 83-year-old singer had prefaced the number by
explaining that jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis had told him
that the Meyerson is one of the two best concert halls in the
world, in terms of acoustics. So Bennett decided to
demonstrate just how great a venue it is.

13. Image in the public domain

14. Image in the public domain

15. Image in the public domain

16. 8”
.6 ms (.0006s)
Image in the public domain

17. 8”
.6 ms (.0006s)
Image in the public domain

18. 8”
.6 ms (.0006s)
Image in the public domain

19. Threshold of Hearing (0dB)
10 -12W/m intensity
2

20. Tool - the band (120dB)
1W/m2 intensity
Threshold of Hearing (0dB)
10 -12W/m intensity
2

21. Tool - the band (120dB)
1W/m2 intensity
The useful range of our hearing
extends across energy levels that
vary by a factor of a trillion
Threshold of Hearing (0dB)
10 -12W/m intensity
2

22. The Architecture of Happiness
“If one room can alter how we feel, if our
happiness can hang on the colour of the walls
or the shape of a door, what will happen to us
in most of the places we are forced to inhabit?”
– Alain de Botton

23. http://freshome.com/2007/04/17/room-color-and-how-it-affects-
your-mood/

25. Vitruvius – 27 to 23 BC
VITRUVIUS AND ANCIENT THEATRES Naif Haddad and Talal Akasheh

26. Fogg Art Museum Lecture Room :
A calibrated recreation of the birthplace of Room Acoustics
presented in Budapest at the Forum Acusticum 2005.
Session : RBA-HB Reconstruction of historic buildings by using auralisation techniques
Paper ID : 608-0
Authors :
Brian FG Katz, Perception Située, LIMSI-CNRS, BP 133, F91403 Orsay, France
Ewart A. Wetherill, AIA, 28 Cove Road, Alameda, California 94502, USA

27. RT60 = 0.161m-1(V/S )

28. The Sabines at Riverbank, John Kopec
Audience
Participation
Opportunity #1

29. Occupied
Mid-Frequency
Reverberation Time of
1.3 seconds

30. Impulse Response
Ceiling Reflections from the Parabola

31. Auditorium Acoustics and Architectural Design
Michael Barron

33. The Signature Sound
commitment to a goal
Brickbuilder
Acoustic Design in the Hill Memorial
Auditorium, University of Michigan
by Hugh Tallant

34. Brickbuilder
Acoustic Design in the Hill Memorial Auditorium,
University of Michigan
by Hugh Tallant

35. Animation of the Acoustic Parabola

36. Comparison of Impulse Response
Center Stage vs. Side Stage positions

37. University Music Society

38. Seating Capacity of "The Tony Bennett Circuit"
2,800 2,844
2,089
1,800 1,843
1,400
1,127
844

39. Hill Auditorium compared with the “Circuit”
3,710
2,800 2,844
2,089
1,800 1,843
1,400
1,127
844

40. http://www.icollector.com/Light-Up-Sign-Applause-For-T-V-s-Live-Audience-36_i8609448

45. Dedication to the
design team