LECTURE SCHEDULE

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# Date Topics Reading Homework
due
1Tu Sep 1 Welcome! Familiarize yourself with the syllabus and do Participation #1; Physics Phundamentals (spacetime, like, wow) Basic plots of amplitude vs. time and amplitude vs. position. Simple Harmonic Motion Ch. 1  
2Th Sep 3 Phundamentals continued... Prefixes, units and scientific notation, oh my! Sound is a wave: waves have amplitude, period, frequency, wavelength and shape... what does all that mean? amplitude=volume, frequency=pitch, waveform=timbre=tone quality=wave shape, etc.), phase...hmmm, phase=? § 1.1-1.3  
3Tu Sep 8 Damping, driving, forced oscillations, beats, resonance coupling, wavelength, travelling waves! It sounds kinky. Well, no, it's a slinky (bad joke). 1.3-1.4, 2.4-2.5  
4Th Sep 10* What determines the velocity of a wave? The period? The frequency? The wavelength? How fast is the (velocity) speed of sound? Dissipation is not the opposite of constipation. 2.1-2.3 HW #1
5Tu Sep 15 Dissipation, Huygen's wavelets; reflection, refraction, diffraction 2.4-2.6  
6Th Sep 17 interference, Doppler shift, supersonic, sonar, infrasonic, ultrasonic, range of human hearing (20 Hz to 20 kHz) 2.7-2.9  
7Tu Sep 22 standing waves! 3.1  
8Th Sep 24 standing waves, nodes/antinodes (again!), overtone series on a string, harmonic fundamentalism (basic music theory), string instruments, taste of Mersenne's laws 3.2HW #2
--Tu Sep 29 TEST 1 on Chs. 1-2: bring pen/pencil and brain (no calculator; no texts; no cheat sheets, etc)
9Th Oct 1 Mersenne's Laws, longitudinal standing waves (wind instruments), velocity nodes and antinodes vs. pressure nodes/antinodes, open tubes vs. closed tubes, resonance 3.3-4  
10Tu Oct 6 resonance, planar (drum) waves, Fourier synthesis/analysis 3.5
4.1
 
11Th Oct 8 Fourier spectra of real instruments, vocal formants 4.1-4.2 HW #3
12Tu Oct 13 factors affecting waveform = timbre; 4.3  
13Th Oct 15 Noise! What is it good for!? Helmholtz resonators, jug band 4.4  
14Tu Oct 20 The ear: parts is parts; place theory vs. rate theory of hearing (Ohm's law of hearing); 6.1-6.2  
15Th Oct 22 JND (frequency) and Limit of Frequency Discrimination decibels; logarithms; Fletcher-Munson curve 6.3-6.5 HW #4
--Tu Oct 27 TEST 2 on Chs. 3-4: bring pen/pencil and brain (no calculator; no texts; no cheat sheets, etc)
16Th Oct 29 periodicity pitch; fundamental tracking; Shepard's tones; combination tones; masking Ch 6.6-6.11  
17Tu Nov 3 binaural effects; diplacusis; hearing loss; cochlear implants Ch 6.6-6.11  
18Th Nov 5 We begin temperament; Pythagorean; wolf fifth Ch 9 HW #5
19Tu Nov 10 Pythagorean vs. just (open) temperament; equal (closed) temperament; 12-tone equal temperament Ch 9 HW #5
20Th Nov 12 Acoustics in one day! (Not as crazy as it sounds) Ch 8  
21Tu Nov 17 instruments...start with tubes: three things to consider: 1) source of noise, 2) size & shape of bore, 3) fingerholes. 1) consider edge tones = fipple, blowing across the embouchure: flutes, recorders; Ch 10  
22Th Nov 19 CSPAC tour? (To be confirmed.) Meet in the lobby of the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts HW #6
--Tu Nov 24 TEST 3 on Chs. 6,8,9: bring pen/pencil and brain (no calculator; no texts; no cheat sheets, etc)
--Th Nov 26
Happy Thanksgiving!
23Tu Dec 1 more instruments...reed instruments - closed tube? but shape matters (conical vs. cylindrical); fingerholes; deviations from tuning; clarinets, saxophones, oboe, bassoons, etc...start brass...lip buzz ("brap") Ch 11 
24Th Dec 3 more brass...start strings; fretting (no, not worrying!); pizzicato; overtones/harmonics; f-holes C-holes (no, that's not rude!) Ch 12  
25Tu Dec 8 harpsichord, clavichord, piano and maybe some percussion... Modulation of a carrier signal: AM vs. FM; very basic electronics; radios; CD & MP3 formats (and limitations) Ch. 13, 14, 5§1HW #7
26Th Dec 10 Review!!HW #7
--Tu Dec 15 Date and time confirmed, alas FINAL EXAM 8:00-10:00 am in our usual lecture hall Phys 1410
on Ch. 1-4, 6, 8-14 and sections 5.1, 7.1, 7.7, 7.9, 7.10


*Monday September 14th is the last day for painless schedule adjustments (add/drop). back

†Not to scare you, but Mon Nov 9th is the last day to withdraw (drop with a "W"). back


Last Modified: Nov 2015 subject to change