The Science of Sound, Emphasizing Musical Applications

Course Overview
This basic course is designed especially for those not majoring in a science, engineering, or other technical field.  But it is a science course, so delving into the major topics will often employ some elementary mathematics.  Real science is never wholly descriptive or qualitative---learning exactly how Nature behaves [and attempting accurately to describe it!] inevitably requires measurements.  Note, however, that the math employed here is elementary: you’ll only need simple algebra and occasionally to use logarithms.   I’m happy to help you if you’re ‘rusty’.

Grateful thanks are due to Professors Lennart Peterson and Samuel Trickey for  many innovative improvements in the course since I began it ~30 years ago.

Lectures will augment and illustrate, often with demonstrations, the textbook material. 
We occasionally visit selected sites of itnterest (e.g. , the UF Carillon) and will perhaps have a few local musicians and craftspeople as guest lecturers.

We should be able to cover most of the textbook. Some sections will be treated carefully, others loosely. Some [a few!] you will be asked to learn with little or no in-class treatment.

Here’s a list of topics:

1. Sound: vibrations, waves, sources, and propagation  [Text, Chapters 1 - 4]
   Exploring the physical principles of sound
2. Sound intensity and the ear [Chapters 5 – 6]
   How our ears detect and process sound; loudness, pitch, and timbre
3. Musical sounds: measurement and analysis  [Chapters 7 – 8]
   The basic 'ingredients' of music and our efforts to analyze them
4. Musical instrument families: percussion; strings (plucked, struck, and bowed); pipes and flutes;           reeds; the human voice [Chapters 9 – 14]
   Using what we've learned to better understand how various musical instruments work
5. Class choice: related topics that interest you.

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