What is this course?
"The Physics and Psychophysics of Music" is a course for people
interested in understanding how sound, music, and hearing work. It is
intended for all students, in music, science, humanities, or any other
field; but it may be especially useful for musicians.
What will the course cover?
The course page has a lecture-by-lecture breakdown, but the summary is
that we will learn
- what sound is (the physical basis of sound)
- how the ear works (this is the "psychophysics" part)
- how sound is characterized
- Frequency
- Loudness
- Harmonic structure
- relation between hearing, intervals, scales, music
- how musical instruments work
- wind/reed/brass
- strings
- percussion,piano
- voice
What background do I need?
Very little. I make an effort not to assume much familiarity
either with physics, with mathematics, or with music. For instance:
- Physics: I will assume you know the metric system and have heard of
Newton's laws but maybe didn't completely understand them. It is a
physics class, but everything beyond this, I will introduce and explain.
- Mathematics: I will assume you are happy with algebra and have seen
logarithms (but maybe need a refresher). I will -not- assume calculus
and I will tread lightly with trigonometry.
- Music: I assume very, very little. I will hope you know rythmic
markings but I will not assume scales. Instead, we will learn why
scales exist and what is really going on with them!
That said, do not be scared that the course will be too basic. There is
a lot of good material for people who do have a good musical or
scientific background to learn. I have not had any
students complain at the end of term that they didn't learn much new.
How do I find out more?
The course webpage is set up here. It includes
the complete course lecture notes, a syllabus, and other possibly useful
information. If you have specific questions, you might want to ask
a friend who has taken the class before, or me, for
instance by email to
(guymoore at physics.mcgill.ca).
If there is a specific question which you think should be addressed on
this page, tell me and I will add it.