Course

Acoustics of Music

Important Notice

This course is not active. Please contact Department Chair for more information.

Faculty
Science & Technology
Department
Physics
Course code
PHYS 1106
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
36
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
An introduction to the physical principles of sound as related to music and music technology. Topics include the properties of sound, room acoustics, acoustics of musical instruments, psychoacoustics, and various sound measurement techniques.
Course content
  1. Simple harmonic motion, wave parameters; wavelength, frequency, resonance, wave intensity
  2. Sound sources, measurements; intensity level versus intensity of sound
  3. Physiology and hearing theories
  4. Transforms and spectral analysis
  5. The vibrating string
  6. The vibrating air column; resonant air columns/speed of sound in air
  7. The vibrating membrane
  8. The human voice
  9. Room acoustics
  10. The audio chain
  11. Psychoacoustics
Learning activities

Lecture/demonstration. Class time will be divided between the presentation and discussion of concepts on the one hand and the application of these concepts in music technology on the other, with majority of time devoted to the latter.   

Means of assessment

Assignments/Quizzes/Projects - maximum of  20%

Midterm Exam – at least two tests administered during the semester,  minimum 30%/maximum 50%         

Final Exam – minimum 30%/maximum 40%

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be able to understand the basic acoustic principles involved in the generation, propagation, perception, registration, and measurement of sound, and they will understand how to apply this knowledge in the context of performing, recording, creation, or analysis of music.

Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

Musical Acoustics; Hall, Donald. Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.

Requisites

Prerequisites

BAM entrance or permission of instructor

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for PHYS 1106
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

There are no course offerings this semester.