Teaching and learning musical acoustics in a "music technology" program

Abstract

Helping math-averse students to learn musical acoustics can be challenging. Many universities offer a degree program entitled “Music Technology.” While the details of Music Tech programs differ, the general curricular focus includes music theory, electronic and computer music, audio recording and mixing, multimedia production, and computer applications in music composition. Music Tech programs also typically require a “Science of Sound” course that is intended to introduce the physical and mathematical concepts of musical sound and the basic principles of room acoustics. But unlike traditional acoustics students with a physics or engineering background, many students in the music tech programs are unconventional learners who do not tend to have much background in mathematics and the traditional science topics that would be the customary prerequisites for a formal acoustics class. This situation provides an interesting challenge--and a great opportunity--for the instructor to help students learn about acoustics and audio topics while side-stepping the students’ disdain for mathematical formulae. This paper presents one Music Tech lesson example: teaching musical instrument acoustics using a lumped source-filter-coupling model. The learning outcomes are sufficient for the students to understand and implement useful empirical models and simulations.