Musicology 101: The Science and Art of Music and Sound Reproduction

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Musical Sound and the Physics of Music

Musical Instruments

The Main Components

There are five (5) main components of virtually all musical instruments, and they are easily distinguished in virtually all human-played instruments. "Electronic" and computer-based "instruments" -- in which sound is not produced directly by mechanical vibration -- also (ultimately, down the "chain", and perhaps not-as-easily identified) include these main components:

Energy Source - human muscle (e.g. lung muscle for wind instruments, arm muscle for drums, finger muscle for keyboard, etc. and muscles are powered by calories; for electronic instruments, the energy source is electricity)

Energy Transmission - for drums, this is done with sticks that carry energy from swinging arms and hands to the source of drum; for wind instruments, it is the air from human lungs that enters vibrational part(s) of an instrument; for an electric guitar, there are several transmission modes, one being the electro-magnetic pickup

Primary Vibrator - for string instruments, it is the spring itself (for piano, it is also a string); for woodwinds, it is a reed or a pair of reeds; in brass instruments, it is the player's lips and for flute, it is the air itself that is close to the edge of a hole that a player blows in.

Resonant Vibrator - the part placed in contact with the primary vibrator. It "highlights" certain frequencies that produce the type of sound the instrument was originally designed for.

Sound Effuser - the "hole" or "opening" in an instrument that allows sound to escape (emanate), designed in a manner that creates the desired sonic output. The "opening" or effuser varies from instrument to instrument. example: trumpets, tubas and otter horns have the flared end, the top of a piano can be opened to let sound emanate.