Musical Acoustics

 online study resource.

 

 

If you already know this page, then to skip to the list of links for general subject areas, click now, on this link.

 

 

 

 

 

About these pages

The pages available through the links below are intended as a supportive supplement to course teaching on Musical Acoustics and Piano Tuning Theory.

 

 

Each link opens in a new window. When you are finished, press control plus F4 to close the window and you will return here. The list of links is very long, so to skip to a general subject area first, click on a subject area link in the list that follows now.

Here is the list.

 

1. The nature of vibrations.

 

2. About Waves.

 

3. What do the terms periodic and cycle mean?

 

4. Frequency part one, frequency pitch and wavelength

 

5. Frequency part two, frequency, wavelength and speed of sound

 

6. What does the term impedance mean?

 

7. About Human hearing limits

 

8. The meaning of Phase

 

9. The speed of sound

 

10. Sound in buildings part one

 

11. Resonance

 

12. Sound in buildings part two

 

13. Simple tones and simple harmonic motion

 

14. Partials, tone structure and the harmonic series

 

15. Strings, and piano strings

 

16. The soundboard

 

That is the end of the list.

Click here to go back to the top of the general subject list

 

The complete list of links for Concepts in Musical Acoustics follows now

 

Bounded motion

 

The nature of vibratory / oscillatory motion.

 

The idea of wave propagation in a medium.

 

Longitudinal and transverse waves.

 

Reflection of waves at boundaries.

 

Progressive waves and Standing waves - nodes and antinodes.

 

Standing Waves

 

The concept of wavelength.

 

The nature of waves in air, bars, membranes, wooden soundboards, pipes, tensioned strings.

 

The meaning of amplitude.

 

The meaning of wave form.

 

Waves within waves.

 

The meaning of periodic

 

The concept of the cycle and cycle period.

 

The meaning of frequency and its relationship to pitch.

 

The relationship of frequency and wavelength.

 

Impedance.

Audible and inaudible sound - the frequency range of human hearing.

 

The meaning of phase angle.

 

The effect of phase on combined waves or cycles.

 

The relationship between the properties of a medium and the speed of sound in the medium.

 

The relationship of wavelength, frequency, period and speed of propagation.

 

Sound propagation in buildings.

 

Sound absorption

 

The phenomenon of resonance. 

 

The idea of resonant frequency.

 

Effects of building materials, room surfaces, and room dimensions.

 

Sound reflection. 

 

Sound absorption in rooms.

 

Room acoustics - Reverberation echo and absorption.

 

The effect of room acoustics on piano tuning.

 

Description of simple harmonic motion.

 

 

The wave-form of SHM

 

 

The tuning fork tone

 

 

The difference between a musical tone and noise.

 

 

Partials - introduction

 

 

Fourier and the concept of harmonic analysis.

 

 

In more depth - Strings, bells, modes, nodes, and meridians.

 

 

The harmonic series – what it is.

 

 

The meaning of transient, (attack).

 

 

The meaning of decay pattern.

 

 

The nature of non linear decay patterns.

 

 

The concept of a partial spectrum.

 

 

The components of timbre.

 

 

Exploration of the musical relationships between harmonics with reference to the piano string and piano keyboard.

 

 

The ideal tensioned string, and real strings – the difference.

 

 

The meaning of speaking length.

 

 

The concept of wave propagation along a tensioned string.

 

 

The concept of mass per unit length.

 

 

The behaviour of strings with increasing tension. 

 

 

Breaking point in relation to other parameters.

 

 

Tension / mass / speaking length relationship.

 

 

The normal modes of a tensioned string.

 

 

Nodes and antinodes.

 

 

Examination of the partial structure of a string.

 

 

Nodes and antinodes – what they are.

 

 

Where to find nodes - how to hear isolated partials.

 

 

The effect of the strike position and damping position on the struck string.

 

 

Inharmonicity – its causes and effects.

 

 

How so-called 'heterodyne' beating occurs.

 

 

Simple and Cubic Difference tones

 

 

What falseness is, and what causes it.

 

 

The basic ideas related to mode coupling and its relevance to piano tuning.

 

 

The purpose and effects of a bridge and soundboard. 

 

 

The effect of bridge height and downbearing angle.

 

The physiology of the human ear and how sound is interpreted.

 

 

The meaning of pitch, as distinct from frequency, and how the perception of it is affected by the basilar membrane. 

 

 

The critical band and limitations to pitch sensitivity.

 

 

The relationship of loudness and source energy.

 

 

Distortion – what it is, and the effects of it occurring in the ear.

 

 

Examples of aural illusions - the piano bass string; tubular bells.