Fluid Behaviors of Sound Waves
Sound is capable of being produced only if a medium is present. By this, I mean that, for there to be sound, there must be air. For a sound wave to be emitted by an instrument and be received by a listener, the instrument must excite the air around it and propagate its energy through the air, in the form of compression/longitudinal waves. When received by the listener, the waves pulse the eardrums with the same varying frequencies as they were emitted.
An instrument shakes to produce its tone
In instruments, air is excited and set into oscillation by vibrations. Instruments use such mechanisms as strings (violin and guitar), bars or rods (marimba and chimes and reeds), membranes (drum heads), plates or shells (cymbals or gongs), air in tubes (woodwinds and brass), or volumes of air enclosed in vessels (drum and string bodies) to produce vibrations.
Sound oscillations are created as the oscillating instrument vibrates a column of air and “bumps” the air that is within immediate proximity. This bump sends out a compression, also called longitudinal, waves in all directions.
The tone of a brass instrument is produced as a player contracts their embouchure and expels a jet of air in order to vibrate their lips, and thereby vibrate the air in the tubing of their horn.
The tone of reed instruments (single or double) is produced by holding a reed rigid and forcing air over, or through. When this happens, the reed vibrates, creating an oscillation.
The tone of flute instruments is produced when air blown over the mouthpiece hole excites surrounding particles. When the vibrations of these surrounding particles match the natural frequency of the instrument, the column of air inside the ins...
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...requency higher and into a higher row of harmonics.
How Does Any of this Relate to Music?
Okay, so I just spent the last several pages expressing fluid, energy, and math properties of how sound is put through air. But this essay is dedicated to the physics of music! Simply, none of the attributes of sound, as I have described them in the other pages in terms of physics, are not in any way musical. Music and physics really only have one point of connection, that music is made by manipulating the mechanics of air oscillations--how the signals are emitted by the instruments and received by the listeners. Music itself, however, is made by how the listener interprets or experiences those signals.
As stated in Levarie and Levy's, Tone, A study in Musical Acoustics, "Music is not 'something that happens in the air.' It is something that happens in the soul."
Air then passes through the voice box and over the vocal cords which vibrate when air
The Western concert flute was developed over the centuries from a simple end-blown flute to the current transverse flute. Transverse flutes are flutes that are held parallel to the floor. To play a transverse, the flutist directs the airstream across the mouth or blow hole and not directly into the instrument. The flute constitutes one of the most important instruments of the orchestra because of its high range, ability to blend in with other instruments and play the melody.
The oboe is a double reed woodwind instrument. It has a range of a B flat to a high G 3 octaves above middle C. The oboe is built in the key of c. The French musicians Jean Hotteterre and Michel Philidor invented it in the 17th century. During the Baroque period, violins were the most common solo instruments, so when the oboe was invented a revolution followed. In the beginning they had only two keys. These original oboes where high in quality mostly due to their construction in three separate parts. Several sized oboes were made for playing in groups. The soprano and alto became common for solo roles. During the later baroque and almost the whole Vienna classicism, the oboe was the leading wind instrument of the orchestra. The oboe has a wide dynamic range, from pianissimo to forte. It is favored as the "singer" in the orchestra. The oboe is separated into three parts; the bell, lower joint, and the upper joint. The joints are drilled with a seven hole scale in the key of the instrument. The first hole above the middle joint and the first hole bellow the middle joint is drilled double. The reed is mounted in the top of the oboe on a metal tube or staple. A sound is produced through the use of the double reed. Two reeds are bond together with a small opening between them, and are attached as a mouthpiece at the end of the tube. The player takes the reeds between their lips, and vibrates them with breath lip pressure. A complicated metal mechanism stops and opens the holes in the modern open, with the fingering like a flute. Trills, Tremolos, and staccato notes are all possible for an oboe player. A modern day oboe player is Joseph Robinson who plays in the New York Philharmonic.
Woodwinds (clarinet, oboe, bassoon, etc.) are different from piano in that they require wind (created by the player) to create a tone (using a reed or reeds to create the vibrations needed for sound). In addition to using different techniques to make the reeds vibrate in different ways, the player also changes the tone (creates the notes) by pressing and releasing (using their fingers) keys that are attached along the length of the instrument, or by covering up, then opening, various holes on the instrument.
When cellos are bowed or plucked, the air around the string vibrates, producing sound waves. Since the strings are very thin, not much air is moved; therefore, it is mounted on a larger body. Because of the large body of the cello, it can produce a full-bodied sound. Since the physical characteristics of each individual cellos are different, the sound produced is also very slightly different.
All sounds come from vibrations causing sound waves. Sound waves will travel better through solids and liquids than they will gas.
There are more than fifty different types of percussion instruments, possibly starting with the antique cymbals and maybe ending with the xylophone. There are many different classes of percussion instruments. For example there is Latin percussion instruments, Classic percussion instruments, and Modern percussion instruments. Most percussion instruments are played by shaking, using hands or using a mallet or stick and have stretched membranes. Percussion instruments also have been used to emphasize rhythm and to heighten climaxes.(1) The drums are part of the percussion instruments and is one of the world’s oldest instruments. An instrument, that is the only orchestral drums of definite pitch, is the timpani, which is also called the kettledrums.(4)
Music is the most diverse form of art in existence. In modern days, some may view music as merely a bass heavy atmospheric tool for a night of clubbing and mischief, but despite this minority perspective, music is by no means purely background noise. Music is not only a beat, a rhythm, melody, lyrics, and a voice; it can change lives.
Most people are familiar with the word "music", however they barely consider the definition of it. After carefully think, everyone has their own opinions on this term and it is hard to have an uniform criterion of music sounds. According to the text book, Michael B. Bakan states five propositions to define the music. The first one is about the tone and the second one talks about the music is organized in some way. The next two are claims that music is human organized and a product of human intention and perception. The last proposition argues music cannot separate from Western culture. Among these propositions, I think the music is a product of human intention and perception is most interesting and worth to discuss. So I assert that the most
Sounds are produced by the vibrations of material objects, and travel as a result of
The vibration of the strings of a guitar causes the sound wave, but is not actually what you are hearing. The amplification of the sound wave is what is actually heard. The differences in the tension of the stings and the mass of the strings affect the pitch of the sound produced. The ends of each string are nodes, or where the wave does not travel from its initial position. The note you hear from the string is actually the first harmonic of the wave; other harmonics created when plucking a string form the undertones and overtones of a note. The waves on a guitar string are transverse waves, meaning they travel perpendicular to the original position. The waves are also standing waves, because they remain in the same position.
Wolfe, Joe. "How Do Woodwind Instruments Work?." Music Acoustics. 1994. 2014. Web. April 13, 2014. .
In physics, music is essentially a form of energy and is transferred by a wave. There are two basic kinds of waves. The first is a transverse wave where the medium vibrates at a right angle up and down causing the wave to move to the right. A compressional wave (or longitudinal wave) moves to the right and left because the medium vibrates in the same direction. Sound waves take the form of compressional waves and are caused by vibrations. Sound waves are distinguished by their speed, pitch, loudness and quality (timbre) (Lapp, 2003).
Sound is essentially a wave produced by a vibrating source. This compression and rarefaction of matter will transfer to the surrounding particles, for instance air molecules. Rhythmic variations in air pressure are therefore created which are detected by the ear and perceived as sound. The frequency of a sound wave is the number of these oscillations that passes through a given point each second. It is the compression of the medium particles that actually constitute a sound wave, and which classifies it as longitudinal. As opposed to transverse waves (eg. light waves), in which case the particles move perpendicular to the direction of the wave movement, the medium particles are moving in the same or opposite direction as the wave (Russell, D. A., 1998).
Speaking of how the human ear receives music, sound is produced by vibrations that transmits energy into sound waves, a form of energy in which human ears can respond to and hear. Specifically, there are two different types of sound waves. The more common of the two are the transversal waves, which ...