Acoustics: Sound Creation & Propagation
This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Sound & Music module. |
Objectives[edit]
- Student will understand the basic nature of sound as vibration and how it propagates through a medium.
- Student will understand the concepts of frequency/amplitude and how they relate to pitch, loudness, and the media through which sounds travel.
- Student will be able to describe sound based on a visual representation on a spectrogram, time-frequency graph, or oscilloscope trace.
Resources[edit]
Readings[edit]
- Music Tech Musician:
- Elsea, USCS Electronic Music Studios Technical Essays:
- NDT Resource Center: "Sound"
- Physclips: "Pitch Loudness and Timbre."
Listening or Videos[edit]
- Physclips: Sound.
- Project Studio Handbook:
Tools[edit]
- Chrome Music Lab: Spectrogram
- Chrome Music Lab: Sound Waves
- Academo Virtual Oscilloscope
- Szynalski Online Tone Generator
- (Software) Audacity
Class Activities[edit]
- Discussion and definition of the physical properties of sound and how it is created
- Play sine waves at different frequencies: discuss frequency, pitch, period, amplitude (show on spectrograms/oscilloscopes)
- Play different sounds/instruments on spectrogram, oscilloscope, and time/frequency graph: compare and contrast
- Discussion of vibration, frequency, and tension using strings demonstration
Assignments[edit]
Files:[edit]
- Acoustics and Hearing Worksheet