1. Musical Instruments Contents: What is the difference between high and low notes? Why do different instruments sound different? What does it mean to play out-of-tune?

2. What is Pitch? SIM – Pitch/Beat Freq SIM – Pitch/Beating Freq

3. Pitch depends on length! Which trombone has the longer wavelength? Higher pitch? A B Do nodes or antinodes appear at the mouthpiece? Bell? www.physicsclassroom.com

4. Do nodes or antinodes appear at the open ends of these pipes? Which pipes produce the longer wavelength? Which pipes produce higher pitch? Tillery, Physical Science

5. Musical instruments create vibrations of the air to produce pitches. Wind instruments vibrate the air with either a reed or a musician’s buzzing lips. String instruments vibrate the air with a metal or plastic string. SIM – both ends open SIM – 1 end open and 1 end fixed SIM – Both ends fixed SIM – Open/Closed Pipe Trumpet Tuba Flute Sax Clarinet Oboe Trombone Guitar Piano Violin Viola Harpsichord

6. Timbre - a musical instrument’s unique sound. Ex: a clarinet doesn’t sound like a trumpet because it has a different timbre. An instrument's timbre is due to the relative intensities of harmonics present in it’s tone. The Soundry available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/ Harmonics - the frequencies that are multiples of a wave’s fundamental frequency. Ex: if the fundamental frequency is 440 Hz, the harmonics are 880 Hz, 1320 Hz, etc.

7. 1st 5th 4th 3rd 2nd Harmonic Series www.physicsclassroom.com

8. Along with the 1 st harmonic, a wave from a CLARINET has lots of the 3 rd, 5 th, and 7 th harmonics, while only a little of the 2 nd, 4 th, and 6 th harmonics. Along with the 1 st harmonic, a wave from a TRUMPET has lots of the 3 rd, while only a little of the 2 nd, 4 th, and 5 th harmonics. The Soundry available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/ SIM – Composite Wave

9. Tillery, Physical Science Beating Frequency – the wavering sound heard when two slightly different pitches are played together Beating Frequency = f1 - f2 (SIM1) (SIM2)SIMSIM2 When two instruments are each playing a slightly different pitch they sound out of tune.