Phsyics of Music

     This blog post is for my science class, first of all. I had to make a post about anything that had to do with science, so I decided to combine my passion of music with science. I'm basically just going to talk about how physics of waves create sound and how waves create chords and stuff.

     The way sound is created with an instrument is the first thing. For a guitar or piano, other stringed instruments, and percussion instruments, your fingers, a hammer, or a pick strike a string or surface, creating a vibration. The vibration moves the air around it and carries the sound around the room. With a wind instrument, it is a bit different. Many people may think that you blow through a wind instrument. That is incorrect, air is just the stimulant for the vibration. With a reeded instrument, the air just vibrates the reed against the part holding it. In a flute, the air makes vibrations and creates a pressure wave that travels through the instrument.

     Notes go out of tune because the wavelengths don't compliment each other. The higher the note goes, the easier it is for notes to be out of tune. This is because the wavelengths so small that even the slightest change could make the ugliest sound. Instrumentalists can change the pitch of the instrument slightly though, because they are able to use less or more air depending on if they are sharp (too high), or flat (too low). Every instrument has a natural register in which it is made to play in, and notes are usually slightly out of tune outside of that register. Most instrumentalists learn which notes are out of tune and learn to adjust their air to make that particular note in tune. Tuning also goes off when the temperature is different. Warm air isn't as dense as cold air, so the particles move around a lot more, making the sound sharp. Cold air is denser, which restricts particles from moving, making the sound of the instrument flat. Temperature differences are not good for wooden instruments, like piccolos, and acoustic guitars. Let wooden instruments sit for a moment before playing, to prevent cracking in the structure.

     One thing that makes a band sound good are the acoustics of the room they're playing in. If you have ever been inside of a band hall, you could see that normally, they would have carpeted walls, or have materials that aren't completely flat. Flat surfaces reflect sound more directly, so they will make more echoing, and make dissonance in the sound because the sound will last longer and interfere with new notes being played.

     I hope this helped understand music physics. I actually really enjoyed this science project, which is a difference from most projects I need to do in classes. 

The first two waves here are notes by themselves, and the third is a chord, which is two or more notes that have a constructive interferance. A chord would sound very pleasant to the ear. The rhythm guitar part in your favorite song would most likely play a series of chord.

The first two waves here are notes by themselves, and the third is the product. That is a wave that has destructive interferance. The waves negatively interact with each other, which would make a very ugly note.

Sources- Personal experience, some science classes about sound and waves, some band classes, http://www.theconcertband.com