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Musical Instrument Blog #1 - The Flute

Posted by Chelsea Starks in Physics - Echols on



The flute has been a very intriguing instrument to me from the way it is held, to the way it is played. I have had the great opportunity of playing one and it's fairly easy once you get the hang of it. The flute is played by holding the flute to your right. Then by placing the lip plate just at the bottom of your lower lip, purse your lips together and blow as if you were saying the word "too." It takes a little while to get it but once you get the hang of it you're good. Changing notes is easy once you know how to produce sound. You have to hold down certain keys on the flute to make different notes and switch your fingers up and down and sometimes, right to left. The flute is shaped like a long rod with silver keys and is sectioned off by three pieces when disassembled. This makes me think about how easy it can be to change sound kind of like by allowing air to pass through certain holes in an instrument can effect the type of notes it plays. The connection I can make between what I am observing and what I already know about sound waves is that certain notes are louder and have a higher frequency reach people's ears faster than lower notes.

Here's a video of how to play the flute =)

Here's a video of some one playing the flute =)

Not sure if these can be viewed in school but give it a try!

Playing the Drums

Posted by Robert Broadwater in Physics - Echols on

I participated in a drum circle over the weekend and thought to make my analysis on all the different drums that were present. Some were hand drums and others had sticks and other tools for striking the head of the drum.

A drum is played by striking the head of it with either one's hand, stick or other relatively hard object. On some drums its impossible to change the note however on others, specifically hand drums, the player can place their hand on the open end to distort the waves on the inside and increasing the pitch. Hitting the drum at different distances from the center to the rim also changes the pitch, the center being the lowest and the rim being the highest.

Different drums are shaped differently and thus have different sounds, however the basic design is a cylinder open on one end and covered with an elastic material covering the other. Some drums have strings attached to the elastic head, that when tightened increase the pitch of the sound produced.

While observing and experimenting with all the pitches I was able to make with the drum, I noticed it was similar to the slinky lab we did on Friday. When the drum head was pulled tighter by the strings attached to the side there was less space for the same amount of energy to travel. Similar to the slinky when it was pulled for a long distance and shook the waves seemed long and slow, however when the distance between start to finish was shortened the waves shortened and seemed faster.

Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Amaris Romero in Physics - Echols on

​Guitar

You play the guitar by using a pick or your fingers. It basically consist of strings and your just plucking them with the pick or your fingers. When the string is plucked from the guitar the string vibrates and it causes a sound wave. The sound waves move down the guitar till it hits the guitar's bridge which is basically where the stings are attached, and from the there the top vibrates, from there the inside of the guitar, the walls bounce out and from there creates a note from the sound waves.
When you change the note of a guitar you change the position of where you fingers and the pick originally are at, at that moment. You have to pluck different strings in order to change the note. The guitar is shaped like a spatula in a way. It is shaped that way because the strings which are towards the top in flat like a handle and starts to get thicker towards the bottom and to me it seems and looks like a spatula in a way. I can create sound by applying vibrations when I pluck the string and from there is causes sound waves and creates a note. You can change the sound by plucking a different string. I feel like energy is being released and from there the vibration moves and forms sound waves.I pretty much knew all of this and knew it would occur this way.
acoustic_anatomy_small
acoustic_anatomy_small

Musical Instrument Blog #1

Posted by Daniel Quach in Physics - Echols on

​The Xylophone

The xylophone is part of the percussion family, where the user is required to use rubber or wooden mallets to hit pieces of wood varying in length. This instrument is styled much like the piano, where the lower notes are positioned towards the left and become higher as the notes go to the right. It also has bars for flat and sharp notes, positioned at the top in sets of two and three. To change a note, you would hit a specific bar of the xylophone, and each key will be different, since it is of different octaves.

This makes me think about how I can create sound because though I am not trained in playing the piano or xylophone, I still know how to follow a pattern or rhythm. Some connections I can see of this instrument and waves is that the frequency and wavelength of each octave can be varied and played in a pattern. According to Google, the definition of an octave is "A series of eight notes occupying the interval between two notes, one having twice or half the frequency of vibration of the other."

How to Play Xylophone for Beginners (YouTube)

How to Play Xylophone for Beginners (Original Website)

How to Play "Happy Birthday" on the Xylophone

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