Musical Acoustics
Supplementary podcasts highlighting aspects discussed in the 'Musical Acoustics' course from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.
- Update frequency
- every 5 days
- Average duration
- 10 minutes
- Episodes
- 11
- Years Active
- 2008 - 2010
Voice (8 mins, ~7 MB)
In singing, air pressure from the lungs is used to set the vocal folds into periodic oscillation producing a pitched sound source at the base of the vocal tract. By changing the positions of the jaw,…
00:08:00 |
Sun 14 Feb 2010
Brass1 (10 mins, ~8 MB)
The important acoustical characteristic common to members of the musical brass instrument family is not the material of construction, but the way in which the note is sounded by vibrating the lips ag…
00:10:00 |
Fri 12 Feb 2010
Brass 2 (10 mins, ~8 MB)
Almost all brass instruments have air column resonances which are close to forming a harmonic series; this gives rise to the familiar pattern of “bugle call†natural notes. In the upper register …
00:10:00 |
Fri 12 Feb 2010
Electronic Keyboards (10 mins, ~9 MB)
The original Hammond used rotating tone wheels to generate harmonics which were added using drawbars; not true harmonics though. The principle is known as additive synthesis. The organ is usually pl…
00:10:00 |
Mon 24 Nov 2008
Architectural acoustics 2 (9 mins, ~9 MB)
In concert halls it’s desirable that the time between the arrival of the direct sound and the first reflection is not greater that 20ms. Highly reflecting parallel walls may cause undesirable flut…
00:09:00 |
Fri 21 Nov 2008
Architectural acoustics 1 (8 mins, ~7 MB)
Sound rays obey Snell’s law of reflection. When they strike a surface the fraction of sound energy absorbed is known as the absorption coefficient, which varies with frequency. The time for the r…
00:08:00 |
Mon 17 Nov 2008
Tuning and temperament (10 mins, ~9 MB)
In Pythagorean tuning the 5ths are true i.e. in the frequency ratio 3/2. In 1/4 Comma Mean Tone the major 3rds are true i.e. in the frequency ratio 5/4. Both tunings give rise to the wolf which res…
00:10:00 |
Mon 10 Nov 2008
Woodwind 2 (15 mins, ~13 MB)
The Boehm flute has a cylindrical body and a tapered headjoint, which is required to compensate for the flattening effect of increased lip cover over the embouchure hole in the upper register. Like …
00:15:00 |
Fri 31 Oct 2008
Woodwind 1 (10 mins, ~9 MB)
In a woodwind the sound is generated by the resonating air column within the instrument, the material of construction being of secondary importance. To a first approximation the flute can be conside…
00:10:00 |
Mon 27 Oct 2008
Piano (10 mins, ~9 MB)
This podcast is about the modern grand piano. A full size piano usually has a compass of 7 1/4 octaves, from A0 to C8. For the notes A0 to A1 there is only one string per note, for the octave abo…
00:10:00 |
Fri 17 Oct 2008
Musical Acoustics Rudiments (15 mins, ~15 MB)
Rudiments
There are twelve semitones to a complete octave, two semitones making a tone. The major diatonic scale has seven notes separated by the intervals of a tone (T) and semitone (S) in the seq…
00:15:00 |
Mon 25 Aug 2008
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