Loudness & Dynamics

This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Sound & Music module.

Objectives

• Student will understand the relationship between perceived loudness and amplitude
• Student will understand how pitch and amplitude interact to create perceived loudness
• Students will understand how amplitude relates to the aural concept of volume and in turn, notated dynamics
• Student will understand the scale derivation of decibels
• Student will be able to visualize amplitude and loudness on oscilloscopes and spectrograms
• Student will be able to notate various dynamic levels

Resources

Readings

• T. Rush. "Dynamics and Articulations." (Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People).
• P. Magnuson. "Dynamics." (Sound Patterns, 2012).
• J. Wolfe. "Loudness and spectra." (Music Acoustics, UNSW).
• J. Wolfe. "Sound." (Physclips, UNSW).
• P. Elsea. "Decibels." (UCSC Electronic Music Studios, 1996).
• J. Wolfe. "dB: What is a Decibel?" (Music Acoustics, UNSW).

Tools

• J. Wolfe. "Hearing Test On-Line." (Physclips, UNSW).
• Chrome Music Lab: Spectrogram
• Chrome Music Lab: Sound Waves
• Academo Virtual Oscilloscope
• (Software) Audacity

Class Activities

• Discussion and definition of wave amplitude, loudness, and dynamics
• Discuss various types of dynamics and relative contrasts
• Demonstration of loudness graph via online hearing test
• Decibel derivation
• Performance of music with various dynamics, shown on oscilloscope/spectrogram

Assignments

• Loudness graph (hearing-test online)