Related papers: The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra

Several cases of the explanation of the phenomenon of standing waves in strings, there are few experimental measurement tools when demonstrating this phenomenon in a classroom, it is for this reason that we have implemented different forms…

Many musical instruments, as for example woodwind instruments, flute or violins, are self-sustained oscillating systems, i.e. musician enacts as a continuous energy source to drive an oscillation in the passive resonator, the body of the…

Stochastic physics is a central pillar of modern research in many fields, but is rarely presented to undergrad students in a hands-on experiment. Here, we demonstrate how a human-scale, simple, and affordable experimental setup can be used…

This article describes a laboratory or demonstration technique employing the bass guitar and a Vernier LabPro (or a PC soundcard) for teaching wave physics and introducing Fourier analysis. The Fourier transform of an open string provides a…

The results of an investigation of fundamental banjo acoustics and physics are now readily available. The papers describe measurements and calculations which demonstrate the extent to which the sound of a banjo can be represented by linear…

The violin is one of the most popular musical instruments. Various parameters of bowing motion, such as pressure, position, and speed, are crucial for producing a beautiful tone. However, mastering them is challenging and requires extensive…

We designed a Physics Teaching Lab experience for blind students to measure the wavelength of standing waves on a string. Our adaptation consisted of modifying the determination of the wavelength of the standing wave, which is usually done…

Self-sustained musical instruments (bowed string, woodwind and brass instruments) can be modeled by nonlinear lumped dynamical systems. Among these instruments, flutes and flue organ pipes present the particularity to be modeled as a delay…

We propose the use of specific dynamical processes and more in general of ideas from Physics to model the evolution in time of musical structures. We apply this approach to two \'Etudes by F. Chopin, namely op.10 n.3 and op.25 n.1,…

It is a widespread belief among musicians that a violin's sound ``opens up'' or improves through regular playing. However, physical evidence for this ``playing-in'' effect remains elusive. This study revisited the phenomenon by testing two…

Evidently, physical experiments are practically reproducible even though the fully identical preparation of initial state wave functions is often far beyond experimental possibilities. It is thus natural to explore if and in which sense…

Physical theories that depend on many parameters or are tested against data from many different experiments pose unique challenges to statistical inference. Many models in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology fall into one or both…

The lowest notes produced by string instruments are typically limited by the fundamental vibration of the strings. However, precise control of bow pressure can lead to the production of even lower notes. Despite significant interest in this…

Under the excitation of strings, the wooden structure of string instruments is generally assumed to undergo linear vibrations. As an alternative to the direct measurement of the distortion rate at several vibration levels and frequencies,…

Experiments performed in the Physics Laboratory play a significant role in understanding the concepts taught in the theory. A good accompanying laboratory manual serves as a concise guideline which students can use to complete the…

Electricity in the atmosphere provides an ideal topic for educational outreach in environmental science. To support this objective, a simple instrument to measure real atmospheric electrical parameters has been developed and its performance…

Musical acoustics is an interesting sub-field of physics which is usually able to engage students in a dual perspective, by combining science and art together. The physics principles involved in most musical instruments can be easily…

Understanding how sound propagates through different media is fundamental to both science and technology. While sound plays a critical role in natural navigation and underlies a wide range of applications - from medical ultrasound to sonar…

Sound cards, which count as standard equipment in today's computers, can be turned into measurement tools, making experimentation very efficient and cheap. The chief difficulties to overcome are the lack of proper hardware interfacing and…

Sound synthesis can be developed using physics-based modelling of the musical instruments. These methods need the description of the various parts of sound production mechanism, in particular a model of the acoustic resonator that have to…