Course:PHYS341/2018/Calendar/Lecture 28

Phys341 Lecture 27: Summary and web references

2018.03.19

Textbook Ch. 20.1-20.9

Percussion – a semi-random tour

1. Time development
   • Musical notes characterized by time development:
   • Attack – Sustain – Decay
   • Wind instruments, bowed strings, emphasize sustain.
   • Percussion instruments emphasize short attack and decay (short or long).
2. Percussion types
   • Idiophone with definite pitch: tuned bars, tubes, plates
     • marimba, steel drums, tubular bells
   • Idiophone with indefinite pitch
     • gongs, cymbals
   • Membranophone with definite pitch
     • timpani
   • Membranophone with indefinite pitch
     • bass drum
3. Marimbas, xylophones, vibes https://youtu.be/TdMn-iVWc40
4. Tubular bells
   • Bell “tuned to A” but the partials are not harmonic:
   • Ear preferentially looks in range 500 – 2000 Hz to find parts of a harmonic pattern: hears “A”.
   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-xbhfNR2g
5. Gamelan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il5nGXComn0
6. 鑼 luó (Chinese gong)
   • Non-linear vibrations:
   • Large gongs: fall in pitch as amplitude falls
   • Small gongs: rise in pitch as amplitude falls
   • Used, for example, in Beijing Opera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WpPfMN9mik
7. Turkish music https://youtu.be/nFCP9KqUGjM
8. Timpani (kettledrums) https://youtu.be/Lnw0IHgjE2E
9. Modes of a kettledrum head