? Credit Points : 10  ? SCQF Level : 10  ? Acronym : PHY-3-MusInstB

The course consists of a number of visits to musical instrument craftsmen and musical instrument collections, followed by a series of workshops in which students carry out and report on group projects involving the study of musical instrument acoustics.

? Pre-requisites : Musical Acoustics (PHY-1-MusAc) or Introductory Musical Acoustics (PHY-1-IntMusAc) or Musical Acoustics 1h (PH0003). This course is not available to Senior Honours or Undergraduate Masters students in the School of Physics.

? Co-requisites : Musical Instruments A (PHY-3-MusInstA)

? This course has variants for part year visiting students, as follows

• Musical Instruments B (VS1) (Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2))

Home subject area

Undergraduate (School of Physics), (School of Physics, Schedule Q)

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date Start End Room Area Additional Information 22/09/2005 11:10 13:00 Location TBC

All of the following classes

Type Day Start End Area Lecture Thursday 11:10 13:00 Central

Upon successful completion of this course it is intended that a student will be able to:
1)outline the extended Horbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification system, and give several examples of instruments from each of the five main classes
2)describe how the principal techniques used in the manufacturing of woodwind and brass instruments have evolved from the sixteenth century to the present day, and discuss the influence of materials of construction on the performance of wind instruments
3)describe the principal techniques used in making bowed and plucked stringed instruments, and explain how constructional features of the violin, the viol, the lute and the guitar determine their acoustical behaviour
4)describe the historical evolution and principles of operation of the clavichord, harpsichord and piano, and explain how constructional features affect the loudness and timbre of stringed keyboard instruments
5)summarise the design principles of pipe organ construction, explain the sounding mechanisms of flue and reed organ pipes, and describe the voicing of a flue pipe
6)discuss the influence of the acoustical environment on the performance of music, and describe modern developments in 3D sound diffusion of electronic music
7)work with a small group to research and present a prescribed topic in musical instrument acoustics

Each student writes three reports on visits and a further report on the group project. Each report contributes 25% to the course assessment.

The Course Secretary should be the first point of contact for all enquiries.

Course Secretary

Miss Manya Buchan
Tel : (0131 6)50 5254
Email : m.buchan@ed.ac.uk

Course Organiser

Prof Murray D Campbell
Tel : (0131 6)50 5262
Email : D.M.Campbell@ed.ac.uk

School Website : http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/

College Website : http://www.scieng.ed.ac.uk/