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PHYS 224 - Physics of Music
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An introduction to the physics of music:
- Properties of sound and their perception as pitch, loudness, and timbre
- Dissonance, consonance, and musical intervals and tuning
- Physics of sound propagation and reflection
- Resonance
- Acoustic properties of pipes, strings, bars, and membranes
- Sound production in wind, string, and percussion instruments
- The human voice
- Room reverberation and acoustics
- Directional characteristics of sound sources
The course WILL NOT assume college level physics, calculus,
or a musical background (scales, musical notation, etc).
It WILL assume high school level physics (Newton's laws...), algebra
and some trigonometry, and an INTEREST in music.
This is a general interest course intended for students interested in
music and in science (but not necessarily studying either), who want to
understand better what sound and music are and how they work. The course
will go over the physical nature of sound and how it propagates. It will
go over the different families of musical instruments, including the human
voice, and will discuss the principles of room acoustics. It should be
particularly useful for students who want a better understanding of the
physics at work in the production of music.
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