Descriptive acoustics of music and speech

Abstract

Approximately 250 nonscience undergraduate students enroll each year in a Brigham Young University physics course entitled Descriptive Acoustics of Music and Speech. This general education service course, which has been taught for more than 30 years, provides an introduction to physical concepts underlying the production and perception of music and speech. Participating students receive theoretical grounding and hands-on experience in principles of general acoustics, human hearing, architectural acoustics, sound reproduction, human voice, and musical instrument acoustics. The course was originally formulated with strong encouragement and support from the faculty of other departments who wanted to have a course that encountered their disciplines from the physical science viewpoint. Sound, as a familiar area of experience to students, allows them to view aspects of their disciplines in contrasting and complementary ways. The course has become a requirement for many nonscience students and a preferred elective for others. This paper presents an overview of techniques that have been successfully used over the years to teach acoustics to these students. It also discusses new approaches that are currently under development to enhance their learning experience.