COURSE OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION

• A survey of the course

UNIT 1: Math Primer

• Logarithms, How to read graphs
• The Metric System and Scientific Notation

UNIT 2: Motion and graphs

• Velocity and acceleration
• Graphing vibrational motion

UNIT 3: Physics of vibration

• Force
• Simple harmonic motion
• Vibration in music

UNIT 4: Vibration and energy

• Energy flow in the universe: conservation
• Energy in simple harmonic motion
• Energy flow in musical sound

UNIT 5: Waves I

• Moving energy using waves
• Waves on strings
• Waves on a slinky
• Waves in air

UNIT 6: Waves II

• Energy in waves
• Sound Level and dB
• Loudness and pitch for the human ear

UNIT 7: Waves III

• Reflection of sound waves
• Absorption of sound waves
• Diffraction of sound waves
• Interference of sound waves
• Room acoustics, loudspeakers

UNIT 8: Standing waves

• Creation of standing waves by interference
• Standing waves on strings: string instruments
• Standing waves in tubes: wind instruments

UNIT 9: Harmonics I

• Overview of harmonics in musical sound
• The Harmonic Series
• Fourier’s miracle discovery
• Pitch and timbre
• Visualizing musical sound on an oscilloscope

UNIT 10: Harmonics II

• Transients and timbre
• Harmonics and consonance: Beats
• A theory of Dissonance

UNIT 11: Scales

• Musical intervals and frequency ratios
• The Pythagorean scale and the pentatonic scale
• The Ptolemaic or Just scale
• The equal-tempered scale
• Tuning of instruments

UNIT 12: Resonance I

• The role of resonance in musical instruments
• A vibrating reed and an air column: the clarinet
• Bowing a string: the violin

UNIT 13: The voice

• The human vocal tract
• The vocal folds as an oscillator
• The vocal tract as a resonator: vocal formants
• Singer’s tricks
• How we make vowel sounds

UNIT 14: The ear

• The outer ear
• The middle ear
• The inner ear:
• Theories of pitch
• Pitch discrimination
• Dissonance
• ‘Phantom’ sounds

UNIT 14: The piano

• Piano anatomy
• Harmonic content of piano notes
• Anharmonicity
• Decay times