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The physics of music

Article  in  Physics Education · September 1981

DOI: 10.1088/0031-9120/16/5/314

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Phys Educ , Vol 16. 1981 Prlnted In Great Brltaln
The physics of
muslc
S R Hoon and B K Tanner
Ithas become an establishedtradition within the
Physics DepartmentatDurhamUniversitythat a detailed shape of the trace was extremelycomplex.
Christmas lecture is presented annually for the sixth
forms in the area. These have provedso popular that
despitethreeperformances, several hundredschool
students have to be turned away. Last year our topic
was 'The physics of music' and this proved immensely
popular both with sixth formers and staff alike. In
view of the very small number of articles on sound
submittedto PhysicsEducation andthelack of
interest on the part of many teachers in the presen-
tation of the physics of sound, we felt it worthwhile to
makethe text availableto a wider audience.This
articleshouldberead in associationwiththat of
Professor Charles Taylorin which he sets outa model
syllabus for the teaching of sound (Taylor 1979a). In
his article Taylor was unable, for reasons of space, to
demonstrate how manyof the ideas presented related
to real musical instruments although this material is
excellently treated in his other writings (Taylor 1976,
1979b).
Stephen Robert Hoon is a senior demonstrator in solid
statephysicsattheUniversity of Durham.After
graduating he spentthreeyearsteaching in Nigeria
before takingupapost of research assistantatthe
University
College of North
Wales,
where he
subsequently gained aPhD.His research interests
include magnetic materials, especially magnetic j u i d s ,
and his other interests include guitar playing.
Brian Keith Tanner is a lecturer in physics at Durham
University. H e graduated from Oxford University and
subsequently obtained aDPhilthere.His research
interests include magnetic domains and the use of x-ray
topographic techniques to study interactionsof domains
and crystal defects. H e has written over 50 articles. He
has played the organ since 1962, studying under John
Webster and Nicholas Danby, and is currently assistant
organist at Elvet Methodist Church, Durham.
0031 - 9 1 20 81 050300+ 12501 50 c 1981 The lnstltute of Physics
In our lecture we concentrated on effects demon-
strable in real musical instruments and attempted to
relate the sound heard by the audience to the under-
lying physics. A similar basis is reflected in this article
and we hope it will provide a stimulus to teachers to
use real musical instruments as teaching aids and also
further the building of bridges between the arts and
sciences.
It is a salutary exercise todisplay on an oscil-
loscope the waveforms generated by a microphone.
For half an hour prior to ourlecture, as the audience
assembled, we played a sequence of recorded music
ranging from Praetorius to Oscar Peterson and asked
the audience to attempt to correlate what they heard
with what theysaw. It wasclear that the electrical
signal amplitude increased with loudness and
scratches on a recordcould be identified by their
associated spikes in the waveform.However the
Indeed,thereappears little difference between that
associated with a classical symphony and
an
orchestra tuning up. Yet the microphone responds to
just the same fluctuationsin air pressure that our ears
detect. By someamazing process, our brain-ear
system is capable of identifying from these pressure
changes those associated with individual instruments
playing together, audience coughs, extraneous traffic
noises, etc. Although the details of the process are far
from being understood, it is clear that the ear-brain
system candetectchanges in acoustic energy, i.e.
loudness, and changesin pitch.
Pitch and frequency
If we are to comprehend even the simplest properties
of musical instruments we mustknowsomething
about the propagation of acoustic waves through a
medium.Themedium of interest isof course air,
capable of transmittinglongitudinalvibrationsor
waves. Wavepropagation is easily demonstrated
using the time honoured slinky, a long steel spring of
about 8 cm diameter. If isolated (transverse) pulses
are sent down the slinky (figure la) it is apparent to
all observers that the pulsevelocity is independent of
pulse amplitude andis a property of the medium. This
result may be confirmed for anarbitrarilyshaped
wave packet (figure lb),that is themedium is
nondispersive. The concept of wavelength i.may be
introduced by the same
demonstration,
and
reinforced by sendingpackets of waves of short
wavelength downthe slinky (figure IC).The slinky
also allows the notionof frequency v to be introduced.
It is not difficult to demonstrate that the relationship
U = V/" (1)
holds for the slinky if a camera is used to photograph
the waveform and a stopwatch to time the interval
between reflections at each end. It must be remem-
beredthat
acoustic waves in air are however
longitudinal, and the demonstration may accordingly
be repeated for this case, albeit
rather less
unequivocally to a large audience. Thesesimple ideas -1s +
fl +2
of frequency, wavelength and velocity must now be *t
carefully translated to explain the great richness and C
variety of soundsthatarefound in all musical
instruments.
For a pure sinusoidal oscillation,
pitch and
frequency are closely related. The inverse
proportionality of frequency to wavelength is simply C
shown by connecting a loudspeaker and oscilloscope
to a high output audio sine wave generator. As the
frequency is increased so the pitch can be heard to
rise. Pitch and frequency are related logarithmically,
i.e.
Pitch
interval = K lg, (v2/vl) (2)
where v1 and are the frequencies of the two notes.
11,
d
K is usually takenas 1200, resulting in 1200 pitch
units per octave or 100per semitone.This unit is
called thecent.Thisapparatusalso lends itself to Figure 1 Wave motion on a string. a, Pulses. Wave velocity
U = distance the pulse (or wave) moves in 1 S; b, Isolated
investigatingthehearingrange of members of the wave of a single wavelength. Wavelength i. = I , the distance
audience, nominally from15 Hz to25 kHz. In eachof between equivalent points; c, Group of waves. Frequency
the lectures striking confirmation was made that age v = number of wavelengths passing a given point in 1 S;
and gender determine the upper frequency threshold, d, Standing waves. Equal numberof waves travelling in both
young girls definitely hearing the highest frequencies. directions
The sine wave generator is of course a purely elec-
tronic device. To demonstrate that the mechanically
induced vibrations of a tuning fork are fundamentally standing wave is a special case where the number of
no different fromthoseproduced by a vibrating waves per unit time propagating down the wire or
loudspeaker a microphoneconnectedtoan oscil- slinky (figure Id) is equal to that reflected back and
loscope may be used. When the tuning fork is struck an integral number of the wavelengths is equal to the
with a soft faced mallet, a pure 'thin' sounding note length of the string. Using the slinky once more the
is heard and ahighly regularsinusoidal waveform fundamental, second, third and fourth harmonics are
displayed on the oscilloscope. It is this purity of easily and clearly excited. Although a standing wave
oscillation,
almost
totally
devoid of harmonic transmits no energy, the air surrounding the string
content, that gives the tuning fork its thin, unmusical absorbs energy from it.In addition, as a consequence
note.Itsresonant frequency is determined by the of the direct physical coupling to the bridge of the
shape, mass and elasticity of the fork material. It is instrument,the string's vibration becomes damped,
interestingto
observe
that
two frequencies are eventually, to a standstill. The forces on the bridge
induced when the tuning fork is struck sharply with can be quite large and this may be readily seen from
thehard face of the mallet. The highfrequency the slinky demonstration. Not only does the assistant
corresponds to ringingin theforkratherthanthe at the stationary bridge-end have to counteract the
mechanical vibration of its arms. These
two tension in the slinky wire, healsohas difficulty in
frequencies may be seen to modulate one another and keeping his node truly nodal!
further
decay with different characteristic time Theparameters which determinethe pitch of a
constants. The mechanical vibration is sustained the vibratingstringare easily demonstrated using an
longer. acoustic or Spanish guitar. The use of the frets to
shorten the vibrating length of the string andhence to
increasethecharacteristic pitch of thestring is
Vibration of strings immediately apparent; so is the use of the tuning pegs
Having introduced U, v and 1 for the travelling wave, in the machine head to increase the tensionin and
thestanding wave maynow be discussed. The hence the pitch of the string. Further, even from a
standing wave is basic to the understanding of all casual glance, it is noticed that the open bass strings
stringedinstruments.Itmust be stressed thatthe E, A and D are of larger diameter and mass per unit
301
 a b
Figure 2 Human analoguesof a, strong vibrator-weak resonator system and b, weak vibrator-strong resonatorsystem
length than the open treble strings G, B and E. Thus
for the same tension and length the former have lower
natural resonant frequencies. A stroboscope may be
usefully employed to 'freeze' the fundamental, second
and higher harmonics. The harmonics are stimulated
by suppressing the fundamental with a lightly applied
index finger, in the best of classical guitar playing
tradition.
Why should the fundamental be a preferred oscil-
lation for a string instrument? The reason may be
quickly deduced from energy considerations. As the
higher harmonies correspond to higher frequencies
and thus also higher string and/or air velocities, they
also correspond, for a given string and air mass, to
much higher kinetic energies. Thus, having the lowest
kinetic energy, the fundamental is usually the easiest
to excite. It also has an antinode at the centre of the
string close to where it is commonly plucked or
bowed.
String-resonator system
Why does a guitar sounddifferent from a violin, even
though the violin is plucked and generating the same
note? Why does a violin tuned to viola pitch not
sound as mellow as a viola? The answer emerges from
the observation that a vibrating string itself emits very
little acoustic energy and can barely be heard. The
bulk of the acoustic energy is emitted by the
302
resonator, the body of the instrument, and it is this
which gives each instrument its individual character.
The stringed instruments consist of strong a
exciter-weak resonator system in that the ultimate
pitch heard is determined by the string vibration, not
the natural frequency of vibration of the resonator.
An anthropomorphic example is shown in figure 2a.
A more scientific analogue is the coupled pendulum
system consisting of one light boband one much
heavier bob,thelatter being ona string approxi-
mately twice the length of the first. They are coupled
by a length of wire, typically 0.5 mm diameter, bent
in a right angle so as to retain some flexibility. A little
ingenuity enables the coupling to be slipped off and
the two natural frequencies displayed. When coupled,
the light pendulum is found to vibrate at the natural
frequency of the heavy one.
This works fine provided that the natural
frequencies of the two pendulums are not nearly
equal. The classic demonstration with two identical
bobs on nearly equal length strings, weakly coupled
by an elastic band, is well known. If one pendulum is
set in oscillation, energy is transferred to the other
pendulum whose amplitude gradually increases. The
amplitude of the first pendulum decreases until
almost stationary from whence it again builds up its
amplitude as the energy is transferred back. Just such
a situation occurs when the note played on a stringed
instrument corresponds to the natural frequency of
 l

Ampllfter xy p l o t t e r I 1
Figure 3 Schematic diagramof apparatus for investigation
of the frequency responseof the guitar L

vibration of the air in the resonator cavity. Here there

is a constant interchange of energy between string and
resonator and the note is very unstable. This note is
known as the 'wolf note' and is notoriously difficult to
playsatisfactorily. All thestringedinstrumentsare
proneto this effect, which is mostserious in the
bowed violin family.
The air resonance is not the only mode of import-
ance in theinstrumentbody.Various resonances
associated with front and back plates and the frame l l1
are all important and lead to a non-uniform response
as a function of frequency. Inan article in this
magazine
Gough (1979) has described an
investigation into the frequency response of the violin
which heincorporatedintoundergraduateproject
work. We examined the response of the guitar as this
is acousticallya more primitive and simpler
instrument and, as has been shown, is an excellent
pedagogic instrument.
Theapparatus used is shown schematicallyin
figure 3, the pick-up being placed on the back plate
off-centre. The strings were damped so as to exclude I l

the
natural
open
string
resonancesand
their
harmonics.Figure4ashowstheresponse overa
limited audio frequency range.Figure4bshows
similar plot, taken underidentical driving conditions,
where thegramophonepick-up wasreplaced by a
microphone above the air hole. Although similar, the
tracesshow significant differences. Mostnotable is
the strong resonance Ainfigure 4b which, though
heard, cannot be seen in figure 4a. This corresponds
to the fundamental air resonance with no vibration of
the back plate and is equivalent to the wolf note.
Thepositions of the various
resonancesare
extremely important in determining the playing
quality of the instruments. Hutchins (1962) demon-
strated that a good violin had a rather flat average
300 6 00
Frequency I H z +
a Figure 4 a, Response curve from gramophone pick-up on
the back plate;b, Response curve from a microphone located
above the sound hole. Note that resonance A in b is absent
from a and resonance B in a is absent inb
response over a wide frequency range with resonances
associated with modes of the front and back plates
occurring alternately and spaced by about a semitone.
Thecomplexstructure of resonancesin the violin
arises fromthecomplexity of themodalpatterns
which, unlikethe
guitar,
are
asymmetric.
This
asymmetry arises through the off-centre positioning
of the sound postwedged between the front and back

303
plates of the violin and visible through one of the ‘f‘
holes. In more primitive instrumentssuch as the
guitar, which do not have the sound post, opposite
sides of the belly vibrate in oppositephaseand
destructively
interfere, thus
reducing
the
sound
intensity radiated. An example of a strong back plate
resonance whichdestructivelyinterferes and is not
detected by the microphoneis shown as B in figure 4a.
Like the violin, the guitar hasa strip of wood called
the bass bar attached to one of the plates, and visible
through the circular sound hole. Unlikethe violin,
however,which has a bassbarrunningdownthe
length of the instrument, the guitar bass bar is set at
right angles to the strings, parallel to the bridge. The
presence of thebarsuppressescertainsymmetric
vibrations which interfere destructively and provides
a certainasymmetrytothe system. Fascinating
holograms of the modes in both the violin and guitar
can be found in Taylor’s (1979b) article.
Before leaving this section it is worth noting that
wood is an extremely anisotropic material, variablein
composition, and it is impossible to predict the exact
resonantcharacteristics of aninstrument. In her
development of a new family of violins with optimum
volume resonators, Hutchinsused a similarapparatus
tothatdescribedheretomeasurethe frequency
response of each section of the instrument prior to
construction. By painstakingmodification of each
component a violin with the desired resonant
properties can be manufactured.
Wind instruments
After alittlereflection onecannotbutnoticethat
thereare far more wind instrumentsthanstring
instruments.Comparethetotalnumber of instru-
ments included in the wind organ, wood wind and
brass families to those of the string and piano families.
The great prevalenceof wind instruments may well be
related to two factors. Firstly the human lungs, wind
tract
and
mouthare
admirably suited-indeed
designed-to supply
the necessary air stream.
Secondly wind instruments, in contrasttostring
instruments,arestrongresonators (see figure 2b!).
That is to say a small disturbance ‘tickles’ the whole
aircolumnintoresonantvibration.Consequently
strong resonators are, at least in the first instance,
easier to fabricate, witness garden hosepipe bands.
The oscillation in a wind instrument may be stim-
ulatedeither by blowingacross an edge, as in the
recorder, or by blowing through or under a reed, as
in the oboe or clarinet. When air is blown over an
edge, eddies or vortices are formed, effectively
creating a noise source which stimulates some of the
allowed resonances of thepipeabove.The reed
performs a similar function by vibratingasair is
blown throughit.The reed’s vibration is a conse-
304
quence of the Bernoulli effect due to air being forced
throughits restrictive dimensions,andthe springy
nature of its composite material. Figure 5 shows the
allowed standing wave oscillations in closed pipes. It
is apparent that if standing waves are to be generated,
a displacement node and antinode must occur at the
closed and open ends respectively. Tuning the pipe
simply involves sliding the plunger or stop, forming
the closed end, in or out. As a result, however, it is
difficult to play a scale on a given closed pipe, and
apart frombird whistles, the closed pipe appears tobe
confined to the wind organ alone.
Without exception all orchestral wind instru-
ments-reed, wood and brass-are generically open
pipes. It is seen from figure 6 that, for thesame
resonator length, an open pipe has ahigher funda-
mental frequency than aclosedpipe. The simplest
form of open pipe is thatfound in theorgan.Its
resonant frequency is determined principally by its
length, but due to end effects this may be decreased,
and hence tuned, by a tone or so by decreasing the
size of the upper open end using a tuning flap. In the
limit when the flap is completely closed, the resonant
wavelength would double, corresponding to a closed
pipe.
Reed pipes, oboes and brass instrumentsuse brass,
organic reed and the players’ lips respectively for the
vibrators. The vibrator also doubles up as the bottom
open end of the pipe and thus it is only possible to
terminate the instrument as an open pipe. The flared
bell on the lower end of brass instruments, as well as
increasing the instrument’s volume,
reduces the
criticality of the resonantfrequencies upon endeffects.
This is achieved by virtue of the bell partially
matchingtheimpedance of thenarrowinstrument
bore to the surrounding air. Thus a trumpet player is
able to insert a conical ‘mute’ into the instrument to
provide a mellow sound without completely pulling
the instrument off tune, as would occur if an organ
pipe were treated in the same manner. Although the
woodwindinstrumentsare generically open pipe
types, their harmonic behaviouris complicated by the
interaction of the various holes in the pipe body with
thevibratingaircolumn.Thisinteractionoccurs
whether the holes are open or closed.
It has already been stated that the pitch of a pipe
is determined by its length. However, if the air in the
pipewerereplaced by say heliumgas, then as the
wave velocity in this new medium is greater than that
in air,the frequency of thepipeshould increase
correspondingly.Thischangeinpitch was clearly
demonstrated in the Christmas lectures by one of US
inhaling helium and subsequently blowing it through
a selection of organ pipes, whilst the other blew them
normally for comparison. Of course, inhaling helium
has a similar and hilariousMickey Mouse effect upon
the
human voice. The reason for
this is itself
 Fundamental
A-4113
13f,l
1st overtone
2nd ;cr :.... ,
Figure 5 Standing waves in closed pipes
interesting. For if the pitch of the human voice is
produced by changing the tensionof the vocal chords,
then changing the gaseous medium in the lungs and
throat should not altertheir resonant frequency. That
is, the vocal chords are pitch generators. The reason
that the voice increasesinpitch is that the throat,
mouth,larynx, etc,all actasresonantchambers,
which are stimulated by the vocal chords. Thus the
helium changes only the allowed resonances in these
body cavities. The human voice is then produced by
a strongresonatormechanism except,unlike the
organ or reed pipes, the resonance is stimulated by
vibrating strings, the vocal chords. Temperature and
humidity alsoaffect the velocity of sound and thus the
pitch of a wind instrument. This explains the need to
warm up all player-blown instruments or fully warm
a concert hall prior to any musical performance.
Living in the north eastof England, the authors can
not leave this section on wind instruments without a
special mention of brass bands.As bands often march
should it not be possible to detect a slight Doppler
Fundamental
1st overtone
2nd overtone
Figure 6 Standing waves in (cylindrical) open pipes
shift? Theanswer is in fact yes. According tothe
calculations of Kelly (1974), if a brass band marches
towards an observer at a medium walking speed of
about 3 mph (1.3 ms- l ) this should cause anincrease
in pitch of about 7 cents, i.e. 0.07 of a semitone. This
is about twice the minimum pitch change discernible
by the ear. By extension, but on a rather less peda-
gogic note, if an orchestra playing in the key of F
travels in anopentopbusat 84 mph (37 ms")
towards an observer by the roadside, observer
the will
conclude that they are playing in G as they approach
him but that they dexterously change to E after they
pass him and recede into the distance.
Harmonic content
The differences in soundquality between various
instruments playing thesamenoteariseprimarily
because no musical instrument generates a pure sine
wave at the frequency corresponding to the pitch of
the note sounded. Real instrumentsgenerate wave-
305
forms that are a subtle mixture of the fundamental
and higher harmonics, resulting in some cases in very
complex waveforms.
Organists actually perform a Fourier synthesis of
complexwaveformswhenregistering organ music.
The waveformfroma stopped flue pipe is almost
purely sinuosodial (figure 7a), much more so than an
equivalentopen flue pipe (figure 7b). (This arises
because the first harmonic of the closed pipe is at the
musical interval of a twelfth (3v) ratherthanthe
octave (2v) andthe second harmonic is atthe
nineteenth (5v) rather than the twelfth-see figures 5
and 6. As the amplitudeof excitation of the harmonics
falls with frequency, more kinetic energy
being
required as the frequency rises, the closed pipe gives
the purer note.)A rank of pipes corresponding to one
stop on the organ consists of one such pipe for each
note on the keyboard. This would produce a perfectly
playable chamber organ but larger organshave many
ranks of pipes, i.e. the possibility of sounding several
pipes at once with thesame key. In some of these
ranks, known as 4 ft ranks (1 ft z 30 cm), the length
of each pipe is half that of thefundamentalrank
(known as an8 ft rank because this is the length of the
largest pipe). Thenoteemitted is thus twice the
frequency of the fundamental (figure 7c), i.e. at the
octave.Similarly,in the 2 ft rankeach pipe is a
quarter of thelength of thefundamentalandthe
emitted note is at four times the fundamental (figure
7d), i.e. thesuper octave. If theorganistdraws all
three stops at once, on pressing any key, three pipes
soundat once at frequencies v, 2v and 4v. The
resultingwaveform is shown infigure 7c. Theear
recognises it as the fundamental note but the sound
appearsbrighterthan whenthe fundamental is
sounded alone.
The quality or timbreof a given note thus depends
strongly upon thepresence and intensity of its various
harmonics. Their presence is affected by many para-
meters including the air speed over the exciting edge.
Overblowing stimulates the second octave above the
fundamental on all notes. Another important factoris
the pipe resonatormaterialand itsthickness. For
example, if the pipe is thin walled it can readily
resonate like the belly of a guitar, and thisconse-
quently colours the note. It is of interest to note that
organ builders find it impossible to build perfect
reproductions of old organs,despite meticulous
attention to themetallurgy and geometryof the pipes.
The spotty metalused for their fabrication is typically
a 50% alloy of lead and tin. This however is found to
age over a period of many decades causing the organ
to lose its new brightness and become more mellow.
The mechanism whereby this occurs is unknown but
it has been suggested thatweathering of the pipe
surface and metallicdiffusional effects within the
metalare responsibleforthese acoustic changes.
306
Fortunatelythe mellow tone of anoldorgan is
considered by most cognoscenti to be more pleasing
to the ear.
Reed pipes produce a waveform rich in harmonics,
and having very little fundamental content (figure 70.
This is notsurprising in view of theabruptly
interrupted wind supplyproduced by thevibrating
reed. All members of the woodwind family containing
reedsproduce very complex waveforms. Forthe
bassoon, in part of the register thefundamental is
totally absent,theearreconstructing this fromthe
total waveform. (Thepredominantpartial in the
bassoon always lies in the range 329-523 Hz.)
It is not widely appreciated that the waveform of a
given instrument changes very significantly through
the register and figure 8 illustrates how the waveform
of three adjacent notes on a treble recorder change.
Note, in figure 8d, that
changing the
relative
orientation of microphone and instrument leads to a
major change in the harmonic quality of the note.
Clearly uncoveringthe holes on a recorder is not
simply equivalenttoshorteningthelength of an
organ pipe. It is in fact a very complexproblem
involving the change in acoustic impedance and the
nonlinear coupling between excitor and resonator.
Transients
One of themajor differences between thesound
emitted from a signal generator and that from a real
instrument lies in the transient behaviour when the
note is excited. The note from the signal generator
comes on abruptly butin an organ pipe, for example,
a significant time is required to build up the vibration
of the air in the pipe. An example of this risetime is
given in figure 9a. In the recorder, particularly when
played by a semi-skilled player (BKT) the velocity of
the air on the lip of the pipe is often not initially quite
that required to give the correct edge tone frequency.
There is complex interaction of pressure waves back
andforth givinga period of instability before the
vibrations settle down (figure 9b). Underblowing can
result in prominent excitation of the first harmonic
and this transient phenomenon during thetime taken
to build up the air velocity can often be detected in
the coughing of some Bourdon pipes. The problem
was accentuated by the English organ builders who,
until recently, tended to use much higherwind
pressures than their Continental counterparts,largely
tosimulateorchestraltones in certainstops.Old
organs usually operate on a very low wind pressure
and hence have very fast risetimes in setting up the
steady conditionof oscillation. Rapid passage work in
the bassregister,lost onmany English organs,
becomes clear and easy to articulate.
In addition to the initial transient, we notice that
there is a low frequency(a few hertz) fluctuationin the
Figure 7 Waveformsfromorgan pipes forthenote f': a,
Stopped flue pipe(Lieblich Gedackt) at 8 ft pitch; b, Open
flue pipe (Open Diapason) at 8 ft pitch; c, Stopped flue pipe
(Concert flute) at 4 ft pitch; d, Flue pipe (Piccolo) at 2 ft
pitch; e, Combination of 8,4and 2 ft stops shown in a, c and achieved until
d; f, Reed pipe (Cornopean)at 8 ft pitch. (Recordings made
on the organof Elvet Methodist Church, Durham)
intensity superimposed on the waveform (figure 9b).
This results from the dynamic interactionbetween the
player's lips and lungs andtheinstrumentand is
another subtlety difficult to simulate electronically.
The decay time is determinedprimarily by the
acoustics of the building rather than the instrument.
Sabine, in a classic experiment, determined that the
reverberationtime variesas thereciprocal of the
acoustic attenuation and it is very straightforward to
derive this relation theoretically. It is interesting to
note
that
the
reverberation times
for
buildings
varying in volume by a factor of twenty, butall agreed
to be ideal for performance, fall on a universal curve,
the reverberation time varying roughly as the cube
root of the volume of the hall. (For opera, a shorter
reverberation time is desirable than for choral music,
which in turn is also less thanthat for orchestral
music.)
Scales and temperament
Have you ever noticed that Scottish folk tunes can be
played solely on the black notes of the piano? The
music is pentatonic, that is, it is built from a scale of
five notes. Schonberg's music was written for a scale
of 12 notes separated by semitones. Chinese music is
founded on a scale totally different in intervals from
Figure 9 a, Initialtransients on a B flat trumpet. Scale
20 ms/division. Note the surprising asymmetry of the
waveform about zero. b, Transients on the treble recorder
(playingf'). Scale 100 ms/division.Note that stability is not
about 0.3 S after initiation of the note
ours. African music makes extensive use of quarter
and eighth tones. Why is much of our music written
in the scales as we know them?
Our music has evolved from that of the Greeks,
who used asystem basedon a fournotepattern
known as a tetrachord. Two tetrachords were then
joinedtogetherto give thevarious modes. One of
these modes, the Lydian, corresponds to our modern
major scale, andprovedto be themost versatile.
Pythagoras(orat least thephilosophers of that
school) was the first person to form a scientific theory
of the structure of this scale. Using just two intervals,
the fifth and the octave,it is possible to arrive atall the
notes in the majorscale. The importance of these two
intervals is that they correspond tosimple fractions of
the length of a string vibrating at the fundamental
frequency v. It is easy to demonstrate with a guitar
that placing the finger at exactly the midpoint of the
string's length gives thenoteanoctaveabovethe
fundamental (i.e. at 2v). Similarly by dividing the
string in the ratioof 2:l gives the fifth (i.e. at $v). Simply
usingthesegeometricallyderived intervals one can
cons&t the-whole major scale by jumping upa fifth,
down an octave, up a fifth again andso on. Starting on
middle C (denoted c' in the Helmholtz notation) the
sequence progresses c', g', g, d , d, a', a, e, E, b, B, F
sharp. We now have all the notes corresponding to
307
Table 1 Relative frequencies of notes in major scales
Pythagorean
scale v ;v g v fv :v g v %v
Natural
scale :v v ;v :v $v :v q v
U U U I I I ~ I
Semi- Semi-
Tone Tone tone Tone Tone Tone tone
the scale of G major. With respect to the fundamental
v, the frequencies of the notes in this scale (ascending)
are shown in table 1.
The Pythagorean scale gives very complex fractions
when expressedinthis mannerand,mostimport-
antly, the harmonic partials of the fundamental do
not form simplemultiples of those of othernotes,
except forthe fifth and fourth.(The fourth partialof the
fundamental coincideswith the third partial of the
fourth, both at 4 v . ) When this harmonic coincidence
occurs, the two notesplayed together sound harmoni-
ous and pleasant to the ear. With the development of
harmony, itwas found that the Pythagorean scale
was not satisfactory, particularly for the interval of a
third, and in 1561 Zarlino suggested minoradjust-
ments to produce simpler fractions in the frequency
ratios(table 1). The relative movements of the
frequencies of the notes are shown (exaggerated) in
figure 10. This scale is now known as Natural pitch.
Helmholtz claimed that choirs trained by the Tonic
Sol-fa method always sang (when unaccompanied)
Natural intervals though subsequent experiments on
violinists
suggested
their intervals were nearer
Pythagorean!
The problem with both these scales is that they are
unsuitable for keyboard instruments. If one continues
on from F sharp, we produce successively C sharp, G
sharp, D sharp, A sharp, E sharp and finally B sharp
which is very close but not quite equal in pitch to C.
Similarly E sharp is not quite equal inpitch to F,
produced if we take a fifth downwards from C. If the
scale is built up using descending fifths and ascending
octaves (instead of vice versa) we end up with the note
Bflat not quite equal to A sharp, A flat not quite
equal to G sharp, etc. This proves no problem to a
singer but it is rather difficult to construct a keyboard
instrument with different keys for sharps and flats.
Accordingly Zarlino suggested that if instead of
having two sizes of tone (major and minor tones) one
averaged these tones (figure 10) and used a mean tone
temperament one could use the same note for sharps
and flats. By the 17th century mean tone tempera-
ment was in extensive use throughout Britain.
Mean tone temperament is fine if one remains in
keys closely related to the original scale in which the
instrument is tuned. In remote keys the discrepancies
become seriousandsuchdiscordancesprobably
308
explainwhy organworks by Bachin remote keys
suchas B minor alwayscall for extensive use of
mutation stops resulting in a very complex harmonic
2v
content of the waveforms. Thistendstocloakthe
2v discord produced between partials of different notes
I I sounded together.If, however, the octaveis broken up
into 12 equal pitch intervals of a semitoneeach
(100 cents) it proves possible to play in remote keys
without an unpleasant sound resulting. Bach wrote
the 48 Preludes and Fugues (two in each major and
minor key) todemonstratethe versatility of this
Equal Temperament (figure 10). Pianos and organs
arenowadaystuned in EqualTemperament.The
intervals are different from the natural intervals but
sufficiently close thattheear will acceptthemas
concordant.
Psycho-acoustical effects
We are now able to deduce some of the probable
mechanisms whereby the ear-brainsystem decodes
the complex sound of an orchestra into its instru-
mental components. Recall what an amazing process
this is, for the ear detects solely temporal pressure
changes at the ear drum. One of the most important
cues that the brain uses to identify an instrument is
the finger print of its characteristic transients. Indeed
if an instrumentis recorded on tape and the transients
removed by careful splicing, itcan be extremely
difficult or even impossible to identify the instrument.
This is one reason why some of the simpler electronic
organsimitating pipe organssound so false. Their
transient response bears little or no resemblance to
that of the wind organ. Thusit would appear that the
brain, inrecognising aninstrument, is performing
some form of fast Fourier transform!
Perhaps
the simplest example of psycho-
a
acoustical effectis that of beats. Beats are simply
demonstrated by couplingtwo oscillators of fre-
quency v1 and v 2 to an oscilloscope and loudspeaker
in parallel. When v1 = v 2 a single trace is displayed
and a single note heard. For v1 v2 a beat frequency
AV = Iv1-v2( is heard in addition to v1 and v2. This
beat frequency can be correlatedtotheobserved
modulation of the oscilloscope trace. This is however
a modulation in amplitude alone and so is not a true
Fourier frequency component of the signal. When AV
is small the ear detects the two frequencies present in
the spectrum and a periodic fluctuation in their net
amplitude, the beat frequency. If AV is increased to
around 80 Hz then the observerbegins to assigna
pitch toAV,now called the difference frequency. There
is however no fundamental difference between a beat
and a difference frequency, nor is any difference
identifiable on the oscilloscope. That is to say the ear
is nonlinear in its response. Cine films as detected by
the eye form an optical analogy.If the frame speed is
 U
Sernl-tone

~~ -

Pythagorean "
A
1
A
-
A AA Ah A h AL
1 Natural
~~
h m m I II m m II
Mean tone
4 x;
I
I x X ~

I
,~ X X x
Equal temperament 1 , 1 , , , L - = = = *
C C# D D# E F F # G G # A A # B C
Ob Eb Gb
P l t c h( c e n t s ) -
Figure 10 Schematic representationof Pythagorean, Natural, Mean Tone and Equal Tempered Scales. Relative
Ab Bb

differences are exaggerated

slow enough the picture is observedto flicker, but The notion of combination tones also explains why
above a threshold value a continuous stable display pitch and frequency are only clearly related for pure
is seen. isolated frequencies. Once more than one is present
To demonstrate unequivocally that the ear detects they interact in a complex manner and the brain may
difference frequencies the two oscillators may be set to become deceived. Further by recourse to both com-
inaudible frequencies of around 30 and 60 kHz. binationtonesandtheminimum pitch difference

-
Nothing is heard until the high frequency is reduced
so that the difference frequency is less than 15 kHz.
An audio frequency is now heard although the two
oscillators are themselves still generatinginaudible
frequencies. (It has beensuggested that automotive
brake squeal is an example of two high frequencies
beating to form an audibledifference frequency.)
It is also interesting to feed a sine wave signal into speed as many as four or eight times as many notes
a 2 inch ( - 5 cm) diameter
transistor
radio
loudspeaker, slowlydecreasing the frequency. At
around 300 Hz the loudspeaker'soutput falls frequency transition.
dramatically, to become almost inaudible. As 300 Hz
is in the region of d (above middle C), it would seem
impossible to listen to any bass melody or bass instru- For example radio reception of a play or music can
ment on a small radio. Some hi-fi enthusiasts will at
this point be nodding wisely, although not altogether
correctly. For it is possible to hear the bass parts of
an orchestra using combination tones. That is to say
if the ear hears the second and third harmonicsof an
instrument, it will put in the fundamental of its own
accord. The brain may also perform this correction
whenit is not needed! Forexample if notes of
frequency 320, 420 and 520 Hz are
generated
simultaneously by three oscillators, then although the
true interval for these frequencies is 20 Hz, the ear
detects a pseudo-fundamental of 105 Hzandthus
four notes of an E chord are heard (Taylor 1979b).
discernible by the ear-brain system it is apparent why
the even tempered scale of the piano is an acceptable
compromise to the ear.
An additional effect of interest is information loss
dueto high noterepetition rates. Thismay be
demonstrated by slowing down an apparently plain
but fast recording of bird song. At half or even quarter
maynow be recognised. This represents a high
frequency nonlinear corollary of the beat to difference
Memory, apart from the synthesis of combination
tones, can also give very important cues to a listener.
become so poorunder adverse conditionsthat a
listener can make no sense of it at all. If however he
is told that it is his favourite play or concerto, the
broadcast can become immediately intelligible. In the
same manner almost disastrously worn and scratched
78 recordsmay be toleratedand even enjoyed!
Memory must also play a vital role for persons who
possess perfect pitch. As has been shown, musical
scales are really quite arbitrary, differing even
between ethnic groups. Thus perfect pitch cannot be
genetically determined. Related to perfect pitch is its
antithesis, tone deafness. Musicologists confirm that
memory is important here too by demonstrating that

309

Figure 11 Waveforms froma Copeman-Hart electronic
chamber organ for thenote f‘. a, Stopped flute (8ft pitch);
b, Recorder (4 ft pitch);c, Block flute (2 ft pitch);
d, Combination of the threestops shown in a-c. (Relative
amplitudes maintainedthroughout)
tone deafness can be corrected by suitable music
learning programmes.
Physiologistsand medicalphysicists have often
been recorded as saying that the ear is ridiculously
sensitive and the brain used to but a fraction of its
potential. Could it be that the sense of hearing and
comprehending a complex musical work uses their
capacities to afar greater extend than is currently
realised?
Electronic music
Certainly the greatest impact thatelectronics has had
on music is in therecordingandbroadcasting of
music. It has made great performances by great artists
availableto millions andcreated a popular music
industry based on sales of recorded music. However,
in synthesis of musical sounds, as opposed to simple
reproduction, electronics has also had great impact.
The first application wasin theelectronic or
‘pipeless’ organ. Pipe organs are large and expensive
to build and maintain and very substantial savings
were to be made if organ pipe tone could be syn-
thesised. Theproblem is one of synthesisingthe
complex waveforms formed by small admixtures of
harmonics. As alimited number of oscillators are
available only an approximation to the pipewave-
form is possible. In the Hammond organ the first six
andeighthpartialsaloneare used, the relative
intensities being adjusted to give the various types of
organ pipe tone. Waveforms corresponding to some
of the organ stops illustrated in figure 7, produced
from a Copeman Hart chamber organ, are displayed
in figure11. Unfortunatelyin electric organsthe
subtlechanges in harmoniccontentthroughthe
register arenot synthesised andthetoneappears
uniformly flat on going from bass to treble registers.
Further,the synthesis of transients is extremely
310
difficult and has notbeen satisfactorily solved,though
the Allen Digital Computer organ does provide ‘chiff
which can be added to all stops, and the Copeman
Hart organ has it on the stopped flute stop.
In
additionto
simulating other
instruments,
electronic synthesisers are used in their own right to
produce a totally new range of sounds, manyof which
can be heard on popular television programmes. A
typicalsmallsynthesiser will havethreeorfour
oscillators, filters, pulse shaping circuitry, white noise
generator and mixers. These can be interconnected so
that, for example, an oscillator can be coupled to the
voltagecontrol of a filter, allowing an oscillatory
varying bandwidth of white noise to be let through.
Most synthesisers are analogue devices but there is
increasing interest in the synthesis of musical sound
digitally. A number of projects are underway, includ-
ing oneattheDurham University MusicDepart-
ment. In this project a dedicatedminicomputer is
beingused toconvert, via a fast 16 bitdigital-
analogue converter, rapid trains of digital pulses into
a varying waveform. There are very serious problems
involving the volume of information to be stored and
in reading it out as an unbroken train.
TheCommodore Pet
microcomputer can be
programmed to play quite elaborate tunesif the CB2
(high current) output line on the parallel user port is
fed throughanexternal amplifier. The simplest of
these is to feed the output CB2 via a 10 kR resistor
to
the base of a T I P 121 Darlington pair of
transistors.Theemitter is groundedandan 8R
speaker is inserted between the collector andan
external voltage supply of typically +3-5 V. (The
ground line of this supply must be earthed to thePet’s
ground line.) When CB2is at digital ground,i.e. 0, the
T I P 121 is turned off and no current flows through
the speaker coil. When CB2 is outputting a 1, the TIP
121 turns on and current flows in the speaker coil,
displacing the speaker cone.By rapid switching of the
Pet output line one can producea square wave of the
appropriate frequency andquite complex sounds
built up which can be quite audially spectacular.
Conclusion
While not laying claim to great originality we hope
that this articlemayprovide a stimulustofurther
investigation.Despite itsvenerability, thebook by
Alexander Wood, originally published in 1944 and
revised by Bowsher (1976), is a joy to read anda mine
of information. In conjunctionwith the works already
referenced, the enquirer can obtain openaccess to the
literature. It is a field ripe for use in student projects.
Much of theapparatus usedin our exposition is
available in schools, indeed a vast amountof teaching
can be done simply with an instrument,a microphone
and an oscilloscope. Use of real musical instruments,
Pnys Educ Vol 16. 1981 Prlnted In Great Britain

as opposed to sonometers and resonanceboxes, is the thanks are expressed. In particular we are grateful to
key to the fascination. Physicists come to appreciate Mr W Spalding for permission to use his illustrations
thesubtle intricacies inherent in theart of per- in figure 2.
formance,and musicians cometounderstandthe
reasons for certain mysterious playing techniques. To
those of us fortunate to be both musicians and physi- References
cists the subject is the sweet synthesis of labour and
Gough C E 1979 Phys. Educ, 14 318-22
love.
Hutchins C M 1962 Sri. Am. November
Kelly R E 1974 Am. J . Phys. 43 452-5
Acknowledgment Taylor C A 1976 Sounds of Music ( London: BBC)
-1979a Phys. Educ. 14 20-5
The article stems from a lecture which would have -1979b Contemp. Phys. 20 515-34
been impossible without the help and encouragement Wood A (revised J M Bowsher) 1976 The Physics of Music
of the technical staff of the department to whom our (London: Chapman and Hall)

of the tape, r, and ri are respectively the outer radius

of the full spool of tape and of the core on which the
NOTES ON EXPERIMENTS tape is wound. x , and x , are the number of rotations
of the supply or take-up spool respectively (note that
this is not necessarily the reading of the appropriate
'Notes on experiments'enablesteachers atboth index counter). Equation (la)refers to the case where
sixth-form and tertiary level to share their ideas with the index counter is driven by the supply spool and
other
readers. Physics
Education welcomes sub- equation (lb) to the othercase. If the total number of
missions fromreaderswhoknow of some simple turns of the spool is X the total time Tcanobviously
improvement to commercially
a made piece of be expressed as
apparatus, or who have designeda new gadgetor T = ( n X / c )(2r0 - T X ) (24
improved a standardexperiment. In particularthe
Editor would welcome brief descriptions of exper- or T = ( n X / c )(2ri + 7X)
iments devised orprocedures evolved duringthe
course of project work orinvestigation undertaken by Noting that the total thickness T X of tape on a fully
students; such submissions shouldbe made under the wound spool is equal to ro - ri equations (1) and (2)
joint name of the teacher and the student. can be combined to give expressions for the fraction
of thetime elapsedin terms of thecorresponding
fraction of the number of turns:
A U N I V E R S A LC U R V E FOR
CASSETTETAPETIMES
D W 0 HEDDLE
Department of Physics,RoyalHollowayCollege,
Egham, Surrey
or ~T =X 32ri [
ro+ri "(")l
I X r,+ri

There have recently been a number of discussions of and these equations can be written as
the nonlinear relationshipbetween the reading of the
index counter of a tape recorder and theelapsed time
(Budden 1979, Gottlieb 1981, Jordinson 1980,
McKelvey 1981). Thisnonlinearity is because the
index counter records the rotationof the supply spool
or the take-up spool rather than that of the capstan.
The relationship is a simple one where A, + A, = 2. Because equation (4) involves the
ratio of numbers of rotations the gearingbetween the
t = ( n x s / c )(2r, - TX,) (la) shaft and the index counter does not matter and the
or t = (nx,/c) (2ri + rx,) (1b) nonlinearity can thus be expressedin terms of one
parameter, A. While A canbecalculated from
where T is the thickness of the tape, c the linear speed measurements of ro and ri it may beeasier to measure

0031-91 20.81 05031 1 +02$01 50 1981 The lnstltute of Physlcs 31 1

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