The udu is a traditional Nigerian percussion instrument that can be thought of as a Helmholtz resonator with two apertures. We use a simple two-particle mechanical analogue to study the behaviour of such a resonator and find that the model describes quite well the main features of udu acoustics.

Creating pleasant musical sounds by vibrating the strings of musical instruments such as guitars and violins is the result of the type of instrument played as well as the mastery of the player. This article explains the physics of vibrating strings caused either by a bow drawn over them or by being plucked, and provides a simple analysis to…

In this work, an easy-to-set-up demonstration about electromagnetic induction is presented, where a simple toy electric motor is transformed into a musical instrument. With this creative way to mix physics and music, it is expected to engage and motivate students to learn about the basic concepts of electromagnetism.

In the violin, the fundamental air cavity mode (the A0 mode) is associated with the sound radiated by the f-holes. The dependences of the sound velocity of the A0 frequency on gaseous temperature and mass were investigated. It was found that the frequency of the A0 mode changed, depending on the molecular weight and the temperature of the gas…

There are many factors that influence the ability to play with accurate intonation, and this Part 1 "Extending the Discussion" article provides background on string intonation, including the physics of intonation, the relationship between stringed instrument technique and intonation, and how students learn to play with accurate…

When a new topic is introduced in the curriculum, teachers seek various ways to teach students the related concepts. For the novel topic 'materials' in the revised Dutch curriculum, I developed an experiment in which students determine Young's modulus using a guitar string. The experiment not only covers several concepts related to 'materials' it…

The aim of this paper is to provide physics teachers and physics students with interdisciplinary cultural and scientific related content. The "dombra" is on the one hand a cultural symbol of Kazakhstan with a long tradition. On the other hand, the dombra as a musical instrument is an object of interest in acoustics. The topic can lead to…

The "Primary SPACE Project Research Report: Sound" (Watt and Russell, 1990) provides interesting reading relating to primary-aged children's concepts of sound. It reveals a range of children's views on how sound is made, how sounds are heard and how sound travels. While some children are shown to have knowledge that sounds travel and are…

The fundamental air cavity mode (A0) of a violin was investigated from the viewpoint of its dependence on the opening area and shape by using holed sheets of paper. The dependences of the frequency response of the A0 cavity mode on the shape, opening area, and orientation of the openings were observed. It was also demonstrated that the change of…

This paper describes a fascinating connection between the physics of music and the famous chord in the dissonant rhythmic section of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (1913). The analysis of Stravinsky's chord will draw from the physics of harmonics, musical intervals, mathematics, and cognitive psychology. This highly interdisciplinary…

Values for physical constants are commonly given as abstractions without building strong intuition, and are too often utilized solely in the pursuit of more easily conceptualized properties. The goal of this experiment is to remove the obscurity behind Young's modulus by exploring the phenomena associated with it--namely, the frequency of a…

Harmonics arise naturally from the resonances in strings and pipes. A video demonstration (Ruiz 2016 "YouTube: Tuba Harmonics" (https://youtu.be/souhEzOP9c4)) is provided where a tubist (coauthor Holmes) produces a phenomenal 24 harmonics using a single tuba pipe length by controlling the buzz of his lips. The frequencies of the…

The French horn is used to introduce the three basic properties of periodic waves: amplitude, frequency, and waveform. These features relate to the perceptual characteristics of loudness, pitch, and timbre encountered in everyday language. Visualizations are provided in the form of oscilloscope screenshots, spectrograms, and Fourier spectra to…

Students in introductory physics courses encounter harmonics when they study standing waves on strings and in pipes. The Fourier spectrum, which plots amplitude against harmonic number, can describe all periodic tones imaginable. However, most sounds are aperiodic and therefore have additional spectral components. A real-world application that…

The basic physics of the flute is presented from the perspective of a professional flutist. The flutist can control loudness, pitch and to some extent timbre. Oscilloscope images are provided to compare changes in these three fundamental sound characteristics. Readers can view a video (Ruiz 2017 "Video: The Flute"…