In singing, air pressure from the lungs is used to set the vocal folds into periodic oscillation producing a pitched sound source at the base of the vocal tract. By changing the positions of the jaw, lips and tongue the resonances of the air in

Brass 2 (10 mins, ~8 MB)

Feb 12th, 2010 10m

Almost all brass instruments have air column resonances which are close to forming a harmonic series; this gives rise to the familiar pattern of â€œbugle callâ€ natural notes. In the upper register the harmonics are close enough together to all

Brass1 (10 mins, ~8 MB)

Feb 12th, 2010 10m

The important acoustical characteristic common to members of the musical brass instrument family is not the material of construction, but the way in which the note is sounded by vibrating the lips against the rim of a mouthpiece. The lips act a

Electronic Keyboards (10 mins, ~9 MB)

Nov 24th, 2008 10m

The original Hammond used rotating tone wheels to generate harmonics which were added using drawbars; not true harmonics though. The principle is known as additive synthesis. The organ is usually played through a Leslie speaker which utilizes

Architectural acoustics 2 (9 mins, ~9 MB)

Nov 21st, 2008 9m

In concert halls itâ€™s desirable that the time between the arrival of the direct sound and the first reflection is not greater that 20ms. Highly reflecting parallel walls may cause undesirable flutter echo. The distance from the source where

Architectural acoustics 1 (8 mins, ~7 MB)

Nov 17th, 2008 8m

Sound rays obey Snellâ€™s law of reflection. When they strike a surface the fraction of sound energy absorbed is known as the absorption coefficient, which varies with frequency. The time for the reverberant sound in a room to drop by 60dB is

Tuning and temperament (10 mins, ~9 MB)

Nov 10th, 2008 10m

In Pythagorean tuning the 5ths are true i.e. in the frequency ratio 3/2. In 1/4 Comma Mean Tone the major 3rds are true i.e. in the frequency ratio 5/4. Both tunings give rise to the wolf which restricts the number of playable keys to 6 major

Woodwind 2 (15 mins, ~13 MB)

Oct 31st, 2008 15m

The Boehm flute has a cylindrical body and a tapered headjoint, which is required to compensate for the flattening effect of increased lip cover over the embouchure hole in the upper register. Like the saxophone, the clarinet has a mouthpiece

Woodwind 1 (10 mins, ~9 MB)

Oct 27th, 2008 10m

In a woodwind the sound is generated by the resonating air column within the instrument, the material of construction being of secondary importance. To a first approximation the flute can be considered as a cylindrical tube open at both ends,

Piano (10 mins, ~9 MB)

Oct 17th, 2008 10m

This podcast is about the modern grand piano. A full size piano usually has a compass of 7 1/4 octaves, from A0 to C8. For the notes A0 to A1 there is only one string per note, for the octave above (Bb1 to Bb2) two strings per note and for

Musical Acoustics Rudiments (15 mins, ~15 MB)

Aug 25th, 2008 15m

RudimentsThere are twelve semitones to a complete octave, two semitones making a tone. The major diatonic scale has seven notes separated by the intervals of a tone (T) and semitone (S) in the sequence TTSTTTS. Each note has a separate lett

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