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Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Alissa DiBartolomeo in Physics - Echols on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 8:56 am

       ​For the project, I am making a violin. I have a 6 - year experience playing the violin so I know a lot about it. The violin is played when a person uses the bow, the bow strikes against the violin and produces notes. A person can either pluck strings or use the bow to get sound out of the violin.
      To change a note on the violin you press down on the strings in a specific place, almost like a guitar. A violin is shaped like a mini guitar.

violin_fingering_chartviolin-and-bow-10

      To create and change sound, I would press my fingers against a part of the violin to see what sound comes out. I think that when you make the bow go against the violin, the string that you strike vibrates and sends sound waves out the violin.
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DJackson Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Delesha Jackson in Physics - Echols on Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 9:01 pm

For this project I have decided to make a violin. A violin is played by using your left hand to play on the strings and your right to move the bow to make the tune warmer. When you push down on a note with your left hand and move the bow with your right, you have to create an even tone and make it nice but take your time.
When playing the violin you change a note by putting you fingers on the string and moving the bow and the different strings you touch the different sounds come out.
The violin is shaped like a guitar it's just that the violin is smaller and doesn't have a hole in the middle instead it has a sort of lift in the middle where the hole would be.
violin-1
violin-1
Violin parts diagram
Violin parts diagram
violin
violin
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Semaj's Instrumental Blog Post #1

Posted by Semaj Smith in Physics - Echols on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 2:07 pm

 

For my Physics Benchmark my group will have to form a band with our own homemade instruments. The instrument I would like to focus on is the guitar, I would like to build this instrument because growing up I always wanted to play the guitar but I was never able to take lessons so this would give me a perfect opportunity to play this instrument.

 

The guitar is played by plucking a set of strings and sliding your fingers down the long fretted neck of the guitar that makes different sounds when touched in different places which would be the way you changed a note by moving your finger to different places on the neck of the guitar.

 

There are two types of guitars, there is the acoustic and the electric. The basic shape of a guitar I would describe as the figure eight with a hole directly in the center of the body on an acoustic guitar. However, an electric guitar doesn’t have a hole in the center of the body. They both have different but very similar shapes, both types of guitars have 12 components minimum but an acoustic guitar has 20 total.  Below is a picture of both types of guitars with their matching and different parts labeled. 

Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 7.53.57 AM

 

I believe that the hole in the body of the guitar combined with the way you move your fingers on the fret board have something to do with the way you create and change the sounds that come out of the guitar. I believe that when the stings on a guitar are plucked they send some type of vibration or wave through the fret board and that causes the strings to make the different sounds that they make causing them to turn into different sound waves.

Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 7.53.57 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 7.53.57 AM
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Emma Hersh - Instrument: Didgeridoo

Posted by Emma Hersh in Physics - Echols on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:00 pm

It's played by blowing raspberries through the mouth of the instrument, this sends waves through the body of the instrument and then out the bottom. Sometimes the bottom is bigger than the top so that the sound funnels and vibrates out, but the instrument makes the same sound without a larger bottom. It's shaped like a regular shaped tube, but it's usually wood and sometimes has fancy painting on the outside. You change note by blowing harder or softer and opening your throat like you would in singing to change pitch. I think sound waves vibrate from your lips down the body of the instrument and then out the bottom to create a low pitched humming noise. 

digeridoo
digeridoo
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Instrument Creation - Ian McClendon

Posted by Ian McClendon in Physics - Echols on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:33 am

​I want to create a Harp that can have a different change of pitch with slight modifications. It could slightly resemble a guitar/ harp. The string instruments always produce of vibrant sound mixed with other instruments creates a nice melody. To play the instrument you pluck the strings that are tensioned but can also be tuned. The shape might not be like the picture but more of a box shape. I might add a symbol attached to it for more effects.   
harp-1
harp-1
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Physics instrument

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in Physics - Echols on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:22 am

Making instruments

         ​Personally I feel making a guitar would be the best way to bring physics into this project. With this we can measure the wave lengths of different tone and notes. 
A guitar is played by tugging on the strings to make sound, you can manipulate the sound by placing your fingers at the top of the guitar and changing the notes. Im thinking of making an average guitar and this is how its shaped.


jazzcity

I was initially hoping to make a drum type of instrument because I really enjoy the drums however since we can not I decided to go with the guitar, with this instrument you can hit the wood area and different other places on the guitar to make different beats and I really like that about it. 

I chose this instrument because it is fun to play and something I enjoy. 
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Music Instrument: Guitars

Posted by Sade Skelton in Physics - Echols on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:11 am


--How is it played? What does the person have to do to produce sound?
Guitars  are played buy plucking the string on the instrument with finger or a pick.
The sound of an Acoustic guitar is from the vibrations of the strings and the hollow body of it.

--How do you change a note? (you might have to watch very carefully to see this)

depending on what guitar you are playing you have to use the pick (or your fingers).
Each string on the guitar has a different note. You adjust the notes to what song your are playing.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6192856_change-notes-bass-guitar.html

--How is it shaped?

The body of the instrument plays a major part in the sound that comes out of it. The  body of the guitar is hollow so when you pick a string, its reaction to the hollow part of the instrument gives you a sound.

--What does this make you think about how you can create and change sound?

This makes me think about what type of string I would used to create the vibration and how hollow does the body of the guitar have to be.

--What connections (if any) do you think you can draw between what you are observing and you might already know about waves?



http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/HighSchool/Sound/vibration.htm
Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 9.05.52 AM
Screen shot 2011-05-20 at 9.05.52 AM
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Musical Instrument: Trevor Hinton

Posted by Trevor Hinton in Physics - Echols on Friday, May 20, 2011 at 8:54 am

​I am really interested in making a guitar for this musical project because I feel I'd be able to put something good together. A guitar is played by strumming strings that are attached to tuners at the top of the guitar or neck as it is called; the player strums the strings in different variations and cords to create a tune and the shape of the guitar is oblong and fat at the base or hollowed piece and very narrow and skinny as it reaches the top with this being said this makes me think that when creating my guitar that I can create and change sound by changing the length of the tuning as well as changing the shape at the base. Some connections that can be made about waves and what I know about guitars is that the waves bounce out as it hits and meets the hollow center of the guitar where sound seems to stay and reverberate. The waves that are made from strumming on the strings on a guitar can be related to when you shake a slinky back and forth and it takes a while to slow down in the sense that when you strum the string it continues to carry out the sound for awhile.

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Guitar
guitar-classical
guitar-classical
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Musical Instrument Blog #1- S.Kabanga

Posted by Samuel Kabangai in Physics - Echols on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 11:47 pm



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MphdRo5_7Us
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Violinconsruction3.JPG

I am interested in playing the violent, to me its a very interesting instrument and its beautiful to me.  I am interested in learning the physics behind the instrument and i want to make my own violin after i research about the instrument.

The video is above is a video that shows people playing the violin. The use little guitar shaped instruments and use a stick with a soft edge that the rub against the strings of the instruments to produce the sound. They notes are changed by using your hands to make different keys like a guitar and also where and how the “stick” is moved. The violin is shaped like a mini guitar with more curves and cuts. The instrument looks beautiful and sounds beautiful.
When i look at the instrument i think if the curves and the way its shaped have anything to do with the sound, and i also think about why it has to be healed a certain way between the neck, why couldn't it be held like a guitar, and also does the length of the stick matter?

BLOG #2
Instrument- Trumpet

1. How is sound produced by this instrument (now that you know more about sound, please try to refer specifically to the energy transfer and vibrations)?
-
The player makes a buzzing sound with his lips into the mouth piece, this sound travels through the horn.


2. Based on your understanding, how are you changing the pitch? What physical characteristics are important in this instrument?
-The pitch can be changed by pressing different combinations of valves.


3. What materials will you actually be using for your instrument and why? How will you play your instrument? What is your plan for constructing the instrument?
-  pipe, because when you blow air in it it creates a sound that can be changed and controlled.

4. What outstanding questions do you still have?
What can i use to control the different pitch that a trumpet make on a pipe??

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Musical Instrument Blog #1- Gina Dukes

Posted by Gina Dukes in Physics - Echols on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 9:02 pm

5.19.2011



The instrument that I am interested in making would be either a violin or a small classical guitar.


Screen shot 2011-05-19 at 8.51.52 PMScreen shot 2011-05-19 at 8.53.08 PM

A violin is played by rubbing a bow across a set of different strings and then placing your fingers across different sections of the violins strings to create a higher or lower pitched sound. A guitar is played in a similar way, except there is no bow, only the strumming against the guitar's strings with either a fingernail or picker.


You can change a note in a guitar and violin by either plucking/strumming a different string or by placing your fingers on different portions of the string to create a different sound.


A violin is shaped like a pear, it has a curvy top but an even curvier bottom and in the middle lies the plane of strings. Guitars are sometimes shaped like violins with a pear-like shape as well, however instead of having a just a long strip of strings, some guitars have small holes in the center which is unlike a violin.


The shape of these instruments makes me think that the way they are held could possibly affect the way that sound is created and transferred. I know that in order to play a violin you have to hold it upright and parallel to an outstretched arm on a shoulder, yet with a guitar you can be more relaxed. A cello and violin are shaped very similarly, however they both produce different sounds and are held different ways, so that makes me wonder if the shape or the way the instrument is held can make a big difference.


The connections that I see is that when you strum a guitar and a note is played, it isnt continuous because the sound waves/vibrations eventually stop and this is very similar to the lab we did in class with the slinkys because when I would push one side, there would be a wave that would go to the other side and then stop.



 I used to play the violin for about two or three years when I was in elementary school so I am somewhat familiar with the way it works and how to achieve different sounds, however, I have never played a guitar before.


Some helpful youtube videos:


Violin Basics -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_04rjPbZarE


How to hold a violin --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dFjpdCdbXs&feature=relmfu


Simple Guitar Basics -->


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RaXQKL-xbQ

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