The Physicist's Guide to the Orchestra

An experimental study of strings, woodwinds (organ pipe, flute, clarinet, saxophone and recorder), and the voice was undertaken to illustrate the basic principles of sound production in music instruments. The setup used is simple and consists of common laboratory equipment. Although the canonical examples (standing wave on a string, in an open and closed pipe) are easily reproduced, they fail to explain the majority of the measurements. The reasons for these deviations are outlined and discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures (jpg files). Submitted to European Journal of Physic

The Physiological Effects Of a Mid-shift feed of sucrose

When men work continuously at a moderate (1'0 litres/ min oxygen consumption) or hard rate (1'5 litres/ min oxygen consumption) for 6 hours, the respiratory quotient falls from 0·94 to 0·80. In classical concepts this ind:cates that 68% of the caloric requirement comes from carbohydrate initially and that only 30% comes from that source at the end of the work period. This change in metabolism is associated with an increase in oxygen consumption and heart rate, indicating that the men were being less effective mechanically towards the end of the work period when they were using predominantly fat metabolism. A mid-shift feed of 100 and of 200 g of sucrose in water .caused an immediate rise in RQ and a higher level of RQ than in the fasting men which persisted for the rest of the work period. This was associated with a lower rate of oxygen consumption than in the fasting state. Whife there may be some doubt about the immediate increase in RO being due to a shift towards carbohydrate metabolism after' the ingestion of sucrose, there can be little doubt that this is the case from the end of the first hour onwards, after the ingestion of sucrose. The doubt about whether the rapid increase in RQ after the ingestion of sucrose is due to a change from fat to carbohydrate metabolism or whether it is due to an alteration in blood insulin level following the ingestion of sucrose could be resolved by ingesting HC sucrose and studying the output of HC CO, in expired air. In view of the practical importance to industry of showing whether or not carbohydrate given during a mid-shift feed is actually metabo'ized during the remainder of the shift, a study with HC sucrose appears to be fully justified; its scientific value in solving the above problems is not in doubt

Reproducing Musical Instrument Components from Manufacturers’ Technical Drawings using 3D Printing: Boosey & Hawkes as a Case Study

This paper demonstrates how component musical instrument parts can be recreated from manufacturers’ technical drawings using 3D printing. While the application of this technology is not new, previous approaches have usually involved Computer Tomography scanning of extant models. Instead we used surviving technical drawings of clarinet mouthpieces originally manufactured by Boosey & Hawkes. We demonstrated that this non-invasive technique can be used to 3D print musical component parts if the original plans survive, even when extant parts do not. We also demonstrated through qualitative feedback from professional musicians that hand finishing of 3D printed mouthpieces remains essential for skilled performers

Intonation and Compensation of Fretted String Instruments

In this paper we present mathematical and physical models to be used in the analysis of the problem of intonation of musical instruments such as guitars, mandolins and the like, i.e., we study how to improve the tuning on these instruments. This analysis begins by designing the placement of frets on the fingerboard according to mathematical rules and the assumption of an ideal string, but becomes more complicated when one includes the effects of deformation of the string and inharmonicity due to other string characteristics. As a consequence of these factors, perfect intonation of all the notes on the instrument can never be achieved, but complex compensation procedures are introduced and studied to minimize the problem. To test the validity of these compensation procedures, we have performed extensive measurements using standard monochord sonometers and other basic acoustical devices, confirming the correctness of our theoretical models. In particular, these experimental activities can be easily integrated into standard acoustics courses and labs, and can become a more advanced version of basic experiments with monochords and sonometers.Comment: Improved version, with minor changes. 25 pages, including 6 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the American Journal of Physics (AJP

Caracterização da qualidade acústica de salas de aula para prática e ensino musical

Resumo O músico necessita perceber adequadamente o som nos recintos destinados ao estudo e prática musical, o que é possível quando estes locais estão acusticamente preparados e permitem o desenvolvimento e aprimoramento da percepção sonora musical. Neste trabalho três salas de estudo e três salas de aula coletiva, destinadas ao ensino e prática de Música de uma universidade, foram caracterizadas acusticamente através da opinião dos músicos usuários e de medições da sua resposta impulsiva. As salas descritas pelos músicos como secas tiveram, nas bandas de frequência de oitava de 500 a 1000 Hz, um Tempo de Reverberação em torno de 0,3 segundos, entre 14 e 22 dB de Clareza e entre 88% a 96% de Definição. As salas caracterizadas como reverberantes tiveram um tempo ao redor de 1,5 segundos, Clareza de 1 dB e Definição de 40%. A opinião dos músicos permitiu compreender as preferências da qualidade acústica das salas e as informações fornecidas pelos músicos se mostraram coerentes com os dados das medições