University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT
PHYCS 199POM
Freshman Physics Discovery Course
The Physics of Music
Professor Steven Errede (3-0074/serrede@uiuc.edu)
LABD POM 1:00-2:50 pm Friday 6105 Eng. Sci. Bldg. CRN # 40293
Credit: 2 hours
The Physics 199POM lecture-lab course will cover the following topics
and will have accompanying lab demonstrations
and experimental setups for hands-on direct
learning experiences for the students:
the physics of sound (propagation of sound waves),
the physics of hearing (psycho-acoustics),
the physics of music (all musical styles,
and music in the natural world --
living organisms and physical processes),
the physics of musical instruments
(brass, wind, strings percussion, song,
electronic, computer and beyond).
A First-Year Discovery Program Course:
Enrollment is restricted to freshmen.
Freshmen students can enroll in only one Discovery course.
Introduction to Course, Course Structure, Organization:
- Course meets once/week: Wednesday 1:00 pm - 2:50 pm in 6105 ESB
- Lecture/demo/lab/hands-on interactive/investigative-type format
- 1 HW assignment/week (typical, short), often lab-related
- What is music? For humans? For other animals?
- Why does music exist? Why is it important? For humans? For other animals?
- Why/how did music evolve? For humans? For other animals?
- Importance of music today in our societies. In future? Evolution of music?
- Music in Nature/Music of the Cosmos
- Scientific study of music/musical instruments (history):
* Ancient Greeks - Pythagoras (~ 500 BC) at least. Earlier endeavors?
* Since then: Aristotle, Ptolemy. Huygens, Euler, Ohm, Young, Helmholtz
- How is music made?
* (Collective) vibrations of atoms of matter
* Matter vibrations coupling to air - collective vibrations of air molecules
* Propagation of sound waves in air, other media, fluids & solids.
- How/why is music heard/perceived? Human & animal hearing/sound perception
* Evolution - why is it beneficial to perceive sound?
* Psychoacoustics - study of human hearing
* How human ear(s) + brain work
* Hearing in other animals
- Simple Vibrating Systems
* Simple harmonic motion - e.g. mass on a spring, tuning fork
+ Frequency, period, wavelength, amplitude, phase, energy,
energy loss/damping/dissipation, power
* Travelling waves and wave propagation in a medium
+ One-dimensional medium - bead-spring system
+ One-dimensional transverse and longitudinal waves
+ Wave propagation in two and three dimensions
* One-dimensional standing waves
+ Sum/superposition of two counter-propagating travelling waves
+ Boundary conditions for standing waves
o Reflection, refraction, diffraction of travelling waves
o Interference effects
o Resonance effects
+ Transverse standing waves, e.g. on a guitar/violin/piano string
+ Longitudinal standing waves, e.g. in air - organ pipes/flutes
* Standing waves in two and three dimensions
+ Vibrating membranes - drums, musical saw
* Doppler effect - source/observer motional effects on sound waves in air.
* Beats - interference between two frequencies
* Distortion - non-linear response & generation of harmonics of fundamental
* Intermodulation distortion - non-linear response with 2 or more frequencies.
* The Human Ear/Human Hearing
+ Structure of the outer & inner human ear, and its response to sound
+ Why two ears? Phase sensitivity, source location determination.
+ Sound Intensity, I (Watts/m2)
+ Sound Intensity Level, L (decibels)
o Threshold of hearing, threshold of pain
+ Sound Pressure Level, Lp (decibels)
+ Loudness Level (phons)
+ Loudness (sones)
* Musical Tone Quality/Timbre
+ Pure tones/simple tones - sine/cosine waves
o have well-defined frequencies/wavelengths, amplitudes & phases
+ Partial tones (= partials) - assembly of pure tones
o = a mix of different frequencies & amplitudes
+ Complex tone - superposition of simple tones - complex waveform
+ Periodic complex waveform - has fundamental + harmonics/overtones
o harmonics/overtones = integer mulitiples of fundamental frequency
o phase sensitivity of human ear to complex tone/tone quality/timbre
o harmonic (Fourier) analysis of musical instrument tones
+ Formants
+ Sound Envelope - attack time/decay time
+ Vibrato, tremelo, chorus, phase shift/flanging, reverberation/echo, etc.
+ Frequency ratios: unison, octave, fifth, fourth, third, etc.
o Reed: Clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone
o Pipe: Pipe organ, bagpipes
+ Brass Instruments
o Physics of mouthpiece, bell
o Trumpet, trombone, French horn
+ Percussion Instruments
o Physics of vibrating bars, plates, membranes
o Xylophone, glockenschpiel, Fender-Rhodes piano
o Drums (all kinds), cymbals (all kinds)
o Musical saw
+ Electronic Musical Instruments
o Electro-mechanical organs - e.g. Hammond B3
o Electronic organs/keyboard instruments
o Analog and Digital Sound Synthesizers,
o MIDI instruments
o Computer-generated music
+ Analog & Digital Recording of Music
o Edison phonograph - cylinder & disk records (analog)
o Magnetic wire and tape recorders (analog & digital)
o Digital recording (e.g. to CD, DVD, etc.)
o Analog input transducers - condenser and dynamic microphones
o Analog output transducers - loudspeakers
+ Music in the near-term and distant future
o Human music - culture & society. New kinds?
o Development of new kinds of musical instruments & technology.
o Evolution of music in animals? Human - animal music interactions?