Info
| |
An introduction to the physics and digital technology of sound
and music.
Topics will include waves, resonance, sampling,
overtones, harmonic analysis, computer file formats, and
editing as well as more specialized topics such as human
hearing, electronic music, room acoustics, and signal
processing, depending on students' backgrounds and
interests.
Expect weekly textbook work, a number of hands-on
activities, and at least one substantial project.
Grading will be based on homework (40%),
project(s) (40%) and class participation (20%).
|
|
Tentative Syllabus
Tues/Fri week chapter/topic calendar
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sep 2, 3 1
7, 10 2 1 basic physics (T)
14, 17 3 2 waves (T)
21, 24 4 3 vibrations (T)
28, 1 5 4 resonance (T)
Oct 5, 8 6 5-6 decibels (?) mid-term grades due
12, 15 7 7 pitch (?)
22, 8 8 fourier (?) Hendrick's days
26, 29 9 9 music, tuning (?)
Nov 2, 5 10 18-19 E&M (J)
9, 12 11 20 speakers/mics (J)
16, 19 12 21 digital music (J)
23 22 recording (J) thanksgiving
29, 3 13 student projects
Dec 7 14 student projects
|
Assignments
- for Friday September 3
- Send Jim (mahoney@marlboro.edu)
an email telling me you're registering for this class.
- Browse through chapter 1 in the text.
- for Friday September 10
- Exercises 2, 5, and 8 in the text, on pages 19 and 20.
-
You throw a ball straight up in the air. Draw graphs of its (a)
height as a function of time, (b) its velocity as a function of
time, (c) its acceleration as a function of time, (d) its
kinetic energy as a function of time, and (e) its gravitational
potential energy as a function
of time. (Show the stretch of
time between when you throw it and when it hits the ground.
Include as many accurate details as you can.) Now draw the same
set of graphs assuming that, on its way up, the ball runs into
and bounces off the ceiling. (Again, include as much detail as
you can, and mention any assumptions you are making.)
-
Explain, referring to F=ma, why the pressure in a fluid has to
decrease with height.
- for Friday September 17
- Exercises 1 and 3 (page 37 -- make sure you're looking at the
Exercises and not the Questions or Experiments or...)
- Questions for Thought and Discussion, number 3: With the help
of Figures 2.10 and 2.12, make a diagram of the four independent
longitudinal modes of vibration for a four-mass vibrator.
- Play around with the oscillating-string java applet here:
String Applet.
Explain in as much detail as you can (and with reference to
pages 30-35 of the book) what the string does and how it works.
- for Friday September 24
- Look at and be able to answer all of the Review Questions... but
you don't need to turn in written answers.
- "Questions for Thought and Discussion" #3.
- "Questions for Thought and Discussion" #5.
- Exercises 2 and 3
- Exercise 4
- Exercise 6
- Exercise 9
- for Friday October 1
- Again, look at and be able to answer all of the Review Questions.
You don't have to turn in written answers for them, but, if you
can't answer them, that means you aren't reading the text... and
reading the text is an important part of your homework each week!
- Create or find a damped oscillator. Play around with it. What is
the resonant frequency? What happens if you try to drive it at a
frequency below the resonance? Above? Are you driving it with a
sinusoidal applied force, or an impulsive force? What is the phase
relationship between the oscillation and the driving at, below, and
above the resonance? What else do you observe that's interesting?
Write about a 1-page summary of your findings. (Suggestion: there's
a tire swing in front of Out Of The Way that would make for a nice
oscillator.)
- Exercises 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 from Chapter 4.
for Friday October 8
- Read chapters 5 and 6 in the text.
In particular,
make sure you have a reasonable idea
of what a decibel (dB) is
what a logarithm is, how they relate
to sound power, intensity, pressure,
and what all that has to do with how
we perceive loudness. You should also
be able to discuss how the ear works.
- As before, review the Review Questions to
get some feeling for what was in the text.
- Do exercises 2, 5, and 8 from chapter 5.
- Do exercises 3,4,5, and 8 from chapter 6.
for Friday October 15
- Read chapters 7, 8, and 9 in
the text on pitch, music notation,
and tempered tuning. We'll be
finishing this material by the
22, but only have one class left.
Make sure you understand how to
find frequencies for the pitches
in the modern equal temper system,
e.g. n half-steps above A 400
is f=400*2**(n/12).
- As before, review the Review Questions to
get some feeling for what was in the text.
- Do exercise 11 from chapter 7.
- Do exercises 4 and 5 from chapter 9.
- Jim talked about in class how a piano tuner
would tune a piano by counting the "beats"
between overtones after hitting two notes.
Suppose A 440 Hz has been already been tuned,
and the E above that is adjusted to its equal
tempered tuning frequency. Which overtones of those two
notes are nearly the same?
How many beats per second should the tuner look for
when these two keys are hit at the same time?
- Using the explanation of "Just" temperament
in chapter 9, find the frequencies of a major
just scale and an equal tempered scale,
starting at C4=261.63 Hz. Which notes differ
the most?
- Use the program "Audacity" (installed on
all the lab computers; available for free
online - search Google for Audacity) to
generate notes for the two major
scales in the previous problem, say,
1 second per note. (Simplest is to
select part of a track, then use the
"Generate/Tone" menu to fill it with
a sine, square, or triange wave.)
Can you hear the difference in the scales?
Which do you like better, and why?
for Friday October 22 (Hendrick's days)
- Finish reading the chapters 7,8,9 on pitch.
- Hand in a written proposal describing what you'd like to do for your term project.
for Friday October 29
- Finish reading chapters 18, 19, and 20 on circuits, speakers, and mics
- Hand in written answers to Chapter 18 "Questions For Thought and
Discussion" numbers 3, 5, and 6
- Give us an update on your project. Remember, you should probably be
working on it about 5 hours a week for the rest of the semester. Let
us know what you've accomplished in that 5 hours this week.
- See below for a link to the Fourier Series applet we played with
in class, should you wish to play around with it some more.
for Friday Nov 12
- Discuss and work on your project in class
for Tues Nov 16
- Read chapter 21, on electronic music
- Browse the links in the notes Jim showed on Tues
- Explore at least one of the software applications mentioned in class;
be ready to report on what you did.
for Tues Nov 23
- Last weekly assignment!
- Browse chapter 29, on computer music
- Browse chapter 23, on room acoustics
- Browse chapter 15 (and possibly beyond), on human speech
- Choose at least 3 exercises from the end of the chapter
of any of these, and come to class on Tuesday ready to
discuss what the issues are, and what you got.
|