UIUC Physics 199POM
Physics of Music/Physics of Musical Instruments
NSF Summer REU Students: Their Research Projects, Presentations and Reports:


Fall Semester, 2007: David Pignotti's Senior Thesis: Impedance of a Bb Trumpet

During the Fall Semester 2007, David Pignotti continued his Senior Thesis research with Prof. Steve Errede on measuring the acoustic input/output impedance of his Bb trumpet, for all 8 valve combinations. To our knowledge, these are the world's first phase-sensitive results.

David Pignotti's Senior Thesis:

Supporting Documents:


NSF Summer 2007 REU Reports:


During summer 2007, David Pignotti (UIUC) and Chris Van de Riet (University of Missouri, Rolla, MO) worked with Prof. Steve Errede on the development of tiny, but sensitive pressure mics and air particle velocity transducer, which enabled them to measure the input impedance of Chris' tenor sax and David's trumpet. We investigated and built various candidate air particle velocity sensors, built a standing wave calibration tube, a variable standing wave tube, and developed an experimental set-up to accurately measure the free-air propagation speed of sound. These research activities were jointly supported by the UIUC Physics Department and the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Summer 2007 Research Experience for Undergraduates (Summer 2007 REU) program.

Pix of David and Chris in the UIUC Physics 199POM Physics of Music/Musical Instruments Lab:



David and Chris' NSF REU Mid-Program Presentation:

David and Chris' NSF REU Final Presentation:

David and Chris' NSF REU Final Report:


NSF Summer 2005 REU Reports:

During summer 2005, Eric Larson (Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI), Ross Maddox (University of Michigan) worked with Matt Winkler (UIUC M.Sc. Student) and Prof. Steve Errede on the development real-time time-domain pitch tracker using wavelets - specifically fast-lifting wavelet transforms, developed in Matlab and C++. We also spent time developing a PC-104 based, fast Single-Board Computer for general-purpose, stand-alone data acquisition purposes. We also investigated the complex acoustic mechanical vibrational properties (as a function of frequency) of several ukuleles and mandolins using a dedicated PC-based DAQ system used for such purposes in the UIUC Physics 199/498POM courses. These research activities were jointly supported by the UIUC Physics Department and the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Summer 2005 Research Experience for Undergraduates (Summer 2005 REU) program.

Pix of Eric, Ross and Matt in the UIUC Physics 199/498POM Physics of Music Lab:



Pix of the Diamond-Systems PC-104 Single Board Computer Setup:



Pix of Ross Maddox measuring the complex acoustic mechanical vibrational response of a cigar-box ukulele:



Pix of Ross Maddox's cigar-box ukulele:



Eric and Ross' 2005 NSF REU final report on the development of their pitch-tracker program and other research activities are available below:


NSF Summer 2004 REU Reports:

During summer 2004, Joe Yasi (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY) worked with Prof. Steve Errede on the development of a MATLAB-based software package to analyze periodic waveforms - extracting frequency, amplitude AND phase information. The development of this research tool will be of great use/benefit for analyzing waveforms from all kinds of musical instruments and sounds in general, as well as many other potential applications, such as frequency-modulated Atomic Force Microscopy (FM-AFM), analysis of gravitational wave data e.g. from the soon-to-be-operating Ligo/Virgo Gravitational Wave Experiments, and e.g. cosmology associated with evolution of the early universe - dark energy/dark matter! This research activity was jointly supported by the UIUC Physics Department and the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Summer 2004 Research Experience for Undergraduates (Summer 2004 REU) program.

The following pix shows Joe hard at work developing his MATLAB-based waveform analysis software in the UIUC Physics 199POM Physics of Music Lab:



The following pix shows Joe recording sounds from his Bach Bb trumpet, which he subsequently analyzed with the software he developed:



Joe's NSF REU final report on the development of his MATLAB-based waveform analysis software package is available below:


NSF Summer 2003 REU Reports:

During summer 2003, Eric Macaulay (Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL) worked with Prof. Steve Errede and Nicole Drummer on measurement of acoustic properties of tom drums and the effect of tom drum shell bearing edges on acoustic properties of tom drums. Dennis Stauffer of Phattie Drums kindly donated three 12" diameter x 6" deep single-head tom drums, each shell cut with a different bearing edge - one with a single 45-degree, another with a rounded-45 degree, and a third with a double 45-degree bearing edge. These activities were also jointly supported by the UIUC Physics Department and the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Summer 2003 Research Experience for Undergraduates (Summer 2003 REU) program.

The following pix shows the setup Eric used to investigate the properties of these drums:



Eric's NSF REU final report on his investigative work on tom drum shell bearing edges is available below:


NSF Summer 2002 REU Reports:

During summer 2002, Ted Argo IV (University of Oregon, Eugene, OR) also worked with Prof. Steve Errede and Nicole Drummer on developing methods for measuring and investigating mechanical resonances in percussion instruments - e.g. various kinds of drums and cymbals, using a PC-based DAQ system. Ted also helped with developing several LabView-based plotting programs that enable us to put plots of data obtained from various of our experimental DAQ setups - e.g. guitar pickup impedance, and vacuum tube measurements. These activities were also jointly supported by the UIUC Physics Department and the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Summer 2002 Research Experience for Undergraduates (Summer 2002 REU) program.

Here is a pix of Ted working on the development of a LabView program that plots the 3-D surface associated with measured cathode current vs. applied grid voltage and plate voltage, e.g. for 12A*7 dual triode tubes and also for octal power tubes that are commonly used in guitar tube amplifiers:



The following pix shows the setup Ted used to investigate vibrations of one of Nicole's Tom-Toms from her Gretsch Drum Kit:



Ted's NSF REU final report on his work on the acoustics of drums is available below:

Ted also investigated the phenomenon of musical consonance and dissonance, using 4 function generators and a 4-channel analog mixer, and compared his results with Leonhard Euler's theory of musical consonance and dissonance. This work is summarized in the paper below:


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