Physics of music field trips

Abstract

Many studies on educational techniques have shown that students learn best when they are actively engaged. In introductory physics classes, this means each student makes measurements and performs calculations; in music performance classes, this means each student practices a musical instrument and analyzes music scores. In the two-semester sequence of Physics of Music lectures and laboratories taught at UNO, students participate in a variety of hands-on activities, including measuring quantities for available musical instruments and then calculating various physical parameters from the measured values. Another helpful activity is going on “field trips” to other locations, such as the auditorium in the UNO Performing Arts Center (once to study the concert grand piano there and once to make room acoustic measurements), the small recording studio on campus (lecture given there by the UNO recording engineer demonstrating various types of equipment), and to a chapel across the street from campus (pipe organ de...