Flute Acoustics

553 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on acoustics

A flute blows a rapid jet of air across the embouchure hole. The pressure inside the players mouth is above atmospheric (usually 1kpa: just enough to support a 10cm height difference in a water manometer). (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/) The work done to accelerate the air in this jet is the source of power input to instrument.

Sound requires an oscillating motion or air flow. In the flute, the air jet, and the resonance in the air in instrument produces an oscillating component of the flow. As the air starts to vibrate some of the energy (sound ) is radiated out the ends and through any open holes. Most of the energy is lost as a sort of friction (viscous loss) with the walls. The pitch or note can be altered very slightly by breath and lip adjustment, but if changed completely the length of the air must change.

This is why the holes in the flute are used to remove the constriction of the air at that particular point. The resonance of the air column in the flute mostly determines the playing frequency which is the pitch. (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/) Since the...

Show More
Related

  • Western Concert Flute Essay

    471 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Western concert flute has a range that extends three full octaves and a fourth up to the F two octaves above the treble clef staff. The flute has several capabilities for advanced techniques, including flutter-tongue, in which the tone rapidly flutters to create a vibrating sound. Flutists can also clack the keys and blow to create a crackling sound. Some flute players have mastered the art of multi-phonics, in which two notes play at the same time. One note sounds by the flutist humming while the other note sounds through actually playing the

    Read More

  • Essay On Native American Flute

    437 Words  | 1 Pages

    They had many different configurations, 2, 3, 4,5,6,7 or 8 holes. The flute we used in class is 6 holes, and we also saw many different flutes in class, someone smaller, someone larger, someone with 3 holes, etc. The oldest flutes we have were made from wing bones of a Griffon Vulture [1] and a Whooper Swan [2], as well as one

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Song, You´ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, by The Beatles

    1963 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...se on both the tenor and alto flute, one an octave higher than the other. While the return of the verse and the flute’s soothing sound give this ending a vague happy feeling, the contrast between the flutes’ pitches and timbres cannot help but leave the listener with a feeling of tension and apprehension over what will ensue.

    Read More

  • The Physics of the Alto Saxophone

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wolfe, Joe. "How Do Woodwind Instruments Work?." Music Acoustics. 1994. 2014. Web. April 13, 2014. .

    Read More

  • Didgeridoo Essay

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    (Moore). The player must develop a technique called circular breathing where he or she inhales through the nose, stores air in their cheeks, and exhales through their mouth without stopping the air flow through the horn.

    Read More

  • Music and the Brain

    2088 Words  | 5 Pages

    Briefly stated, the outer ear (or pinna) 'catches' and amplifies sound by funneling it into the ear canal. Interestingly, the outer ear serves only to boost high frequency sound components (1). The resonance provided by the outer ear also serves in amplifying a higher range of frequencies corresponding to the top octave of the piano key board. The air pressure wave travels through the ear canal to ultimately reach and vibrate the timpanic membrane (i.e.-- the eardrum). At this particular juncture, the pressure wave energy of sound is translated into mechanical energy via the middle ear.

    Read More

  • The Physics of Ultrasound

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    A transducer is a mechanism that changes one form of energy to another form. A toaster is a transducer that turns electricity into heat; a loudspeaker is a transducer that changes electricity into sound. Likewise, an ultrasound transducer changes electricity voltage into ultrasound waves, and vice versa. This is possible because of the principle of piezoelectricity, which states that some materials (ceramics, quartz, and others) produce a voltage when deformed by an applied pressure. Conversely, piezoelectricity also results in production of a pressure whe...

    Read More

  • History Of The Clarinet

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    The clarinet is a woodwind instrament consisting of a cylindrical wood, metal, or ebonite pipe with a bell-shaped opening at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end, to which a thin reed is attached. The clarinet has five different sections, the mouthpiece, the barrel, the upper section, the lower section, and the bell. The length of the entire instrument is 60 cm long. The mouthpiece section consists of a slotted cylinder, to which a reed is attached by a metal clamp called a ligature. The mouthpiece plugs into the next section which is a barrel. The barrel is simply a connecting cylinder to which the mouthpiece and the upper section plugs into. The upper section is a cylindrical pipe consisting of 4 holes and 9 keys placed in different locations along the pipe. On the back of the pipe there is a hole and a key that is used by the thumb. The lower section plugs into the upper section and is also connected via a special bridge key. This piece consists of 3 holes and 8 keys. On the inward facing side of the pipe, there is a protruding piece of metal called a thumb rest, which supports the entire clarinet. The bell plugs into the lower section. It consists of a cylinder that flares out into a bell shape and ends the clarinet.

    Read More

  • The Tin Flute Analysis

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Tin Flute is a novel by Gabrielle Roy and was written in Quebec in World War 2 in 1945. This novel is about a girl named Florentine and how she becomes to be a mature young woman by realizing that a person’s imprison did not tell her how that person really feels and think; This novel also shows the effect of poverty and how it affects people and their family. The narrator speaks from an omniscient point of view, but is mostly from the perspective of Florentine.

    Read More

  • How a Gas Turbine Engine Works

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, the gas turbine engine operation begins with the air intake process. As of all internal combustion engine, oxygen is required to support the combustion of the fuel and the source of oxygen is from the fresh air that is taken in. Initially, the fan is rotated by a driving shaft that is powered by the turbine of the engine. A negative or vacuum pressure at the intake side is then created by the rotating fan. Next, the surrounding air is drawn towards the inlet and causes it to flow into the gas turbine engine inlet (Cengel & Boles, 2011). At the same time, the pressure on the other side of the fan is increased as it is compressed at a lower pressure ratio and causes the air in the outlet side of the fan to move fu...

    Read More

  • Underwater Acoustics

    2136 Words  | 5 Pages

    pitch of the wave. Any sound that can heard by a human ear is called

    Read More

  • Lasers And Their Uses

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    often done by electrical discharge in a pure gas - or gas mixture - in a tube.

    Read More

  • Origin Of Chinese Music

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...te. In old times, most flutes were made of bamboo, which allowed even common people to play it. By covering the holes and blowing through the side hole while moving the fingers flexibly between the six holes, a sound will be produced that is leisurely and mellifluous like sound from far away. This always reminds people of a pastoral picture of a farmer riding on a bull while playing a flute

    Read More

  • Consonant Sounds Essay

    2414 Words  | 5 Pages

    42 In the case of silence, the passage of breath is open through the throat and the cavities above it, thus, the air flows freely through the two operations of exhalation and inhalation without any friction which could cause any production of any sound. In order to produce any sound, this involves the raising of the diaphragm (during exhalation) which presses the lungs and makes the air push out from the lungs to the point of articulation (i.e., the place of obstruction of the sound). As a result, the sound will be produced (Al-Hamad, 2002: 59). The production of a consonant sound requires close articulation by one or more vocal organs, which causes an occlusion at this point of articulation.

    Read More

  • The Reflection Of Acoustic Analysis Of Voice Disorders

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    High sound indicate a high pitch and the low indicate a low pitch. It depends on the frequency of a sound wave which means as the frequency increases the pitch will increase.

    Read More

More about Flute Acoustics

Open Document