Sounds of Music B

[bernard]

[drcubbin]

Has anyone used a "slide" - like is used with a guitar?

[thatsciencegirl]

does anyone have any good resources for principles of acoustics??

[gz839918]

does anyone have any good resources for principles of acoustics??

Hey there, great to see somebody learning acoustics! Aside from our wiki page, one popular resource is the Hyperphysics website, which provides a broad overview of the equations you might use for Sounds of Music.

Dan Russell also has some awesome animations and visualizations for sound—it's okay if some of the descriptions or math seem difficult to you, because the site ranges from SciOly-level difficulty, all the way up to graduate-school–level difficulty (i.e. the difficulty for people studying to get a master's degree of PhD). If you happen to click on one of the more difficult-looking math-heavy pages, then don't worry! Try to focus on the visuals, and skip anything that seems too complicated to show up on a SciOly test.

Finally, if you have access to a good public library, try to see whether it carries a copy of Volume I of Gareth Loy's Musimathics, or whether you can get the book via an Interlibrary Loan. (There is also a Volume II of Musimathics, but it's not very useful for studying for Sounds of Music.) It provides an excellent overview of the physics of music from the very foundations, and helps you to build up an intuition about how both acoustics and music theory work.

I hope these were helpful, and best of luck in Sounds of Music!

[allydarnell]

Question: In terms of building the instrument itself, is it against the rules to re-invent an already existing instrument/idea? Just want to be sure I understand the guidelines correctly. Thank you!

[gz839918]

Question: In terms of building the instrument itself, is it against the rules to re-invent an already existing instrument/idea? Just want to be sure I understand the guidelines correctly. Thank you!

Hi! Are you asking whether you're allowed to build a piano, guitar, trumpet, or some instrument that already exists? If so, yes, you're free to build it as long as it follows the official 2022 rules for Sounds of Music. You can check out some of the past instruments people have built for Sounds and graciously shared on our Image Gallery—note that many of these instruments are from a different year, and the official rules don't stay the same every year. Hope that helped to clear up any confusion!

[ymlk85]

I built a canjo, and used the pitch tester from the SciOly site to test my pitch. It is hard for me to use it, the notes on the site always indicate off pitch and the cents are far off, even though it is perfect when I listen to it. What is a better site for me to test the pitch? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

[Banana2020]

The pitch tester on PA Scioly is the pitch tester used for almost every competition. Just because when you're listening to it it sounds perfect does not mean its perfect. A variation of a few hertz may not sound that different but will be many cents off(I forget how many). Finding a "better site" is prob not the root problem, is your canjo overtoney? Are you downloading the tester from the pascioly website？Are you using a mic? Those are all things to ask bfore blaming the tester. Are you sure the notes correspond to those of the tester?