RUI: Undergraduate Research in Musical Acoustics

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This award supports two experimental investigations into the physics of musical instruments. The two projects represent complex problems involving energy transfer between vibrating structures and the air flow that produces the vibration. One goal is to determine if the vibration of the tubing of brass wind instruments in the direction of the air flow is the primary reason that the material and bracing of the instrument affects the sound. If this is found to be the case, it will answer a question that has been debated in the scientific literature for over a century. The second goal is to determine the physical parameters of a reed that are necessary to construct an accurate model of a clarinet during actual performance. The results of this study will enhance the ability to synthesize the sound of woodwind instruments and provide needed information concerning which parameters musical instrument designers should be adjusting to improve their instruments. The primary goal of the work is to involve undergraduate students, particularly women, in original scientific research. While the systems under study involve musical instruments, the research centers on studying basic physical phenomena that are not unique to musical acoustics. This work contributes to the understanding of some important physics, with both scientific and industrial applications, but more importantly it introduces undergraduate students to original scientific research through a subject they find fascinating.