MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
ISP 215: THE SCIENCE OF SOUND
Spring Semester, 2008
Course Pack: ISP 215 -
PRINCIPLES OF MUSICAL ACOUSTICS -
by W.M. Hartmann
at Student Bookstore on Grand River
Clickers: The course uses the i-clicker,
ISBN 0716779390
Class: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:40 - 4:00 pm
in room 1415 BPS Building.
Instructor: Professor W.M. Hartmann,
171 Giltner Hall Office hours:
Wednesday 9 - 11 am or by appointment.
hartman2@msu.edu;
www.pa.msu.edu/acoustics
Assisted by: Eric Macaulay 172 Giltner Hall,
macaula5@msu.edu
Topics and text assignments
Ch. = Chapters of the text to read
Ex. = Recommended exercises
1 Tu 8 J: Science and acoustics, Ch.1; Simple harmonic motion, frequency,
period, amplitude, sine function, Ch.2; Ex. 2.1, 2.2
2 Th 10 J: Instantaneous phase, free vibrators, natural modes, multimode
systems, Ch.2 and Ch.3; Ex. 2.3, 3.1-3
3 Tu 15 J: Spectrum, resonance, adding waves, Ch.3; Ex. 3.4-7
4 Th 17 J: Transducers, electronic instrumentation, Ch.4; Ex. 4.1-5
[Quiz 1, Chapters 1, 2, 3]
5 Tu 22 J: Sound waves in matter, polarization, speed of sound,
Ch.5; Ex. 5.1, 5.4, 5.5
6 Th 24 J: Traveling waves in space and time, wavelength, Ch.5; Ex. 5.2, 5.3
[Quiz 2, Chapters 3, 4, 5]
7 Tu 29 J: Wave interference, beats, reflection, refraction, diffraction,
Ch.6; Ex. 6.1-4
8 Th 31 J: Standing waves, standing waves on strings, Ch.7; Ex.7.1-5
[Quiz 3, Chapters 5, 6]
9 Tu 5 F: Standing waves in pipes, Ch.8; Ex. 8.1-3
10 Th 7 F: Fourier analysis and synthesis, periodicity again, Ch.9; Ex. 9.1-3
[Quiz 4, Chapters 7, 8]
11 Tu 12 F: Sound radiation, intensity, sound level, decibels, Ch.10;
Ex. 10.1-6
12 Th 14 F: dB drill, Auditory anatomy and tuning, Ch. 10, 11;
[Quiz 5, Chapters 9, 10]
13 Tu 19 F: Auditory physiology, loudness, Ch. 11, 12 ; Ex. 11.1-7
14 Th 21 F: Loudness and pitch, Ch.12, 13; Ex. 12.1-5; Ex. 13.2-4
[Quiz 6, Chapters 10, 11]
15 Tu 26 F: Localization of sound, Ch.14; Ex. 14.1-5
16 Th 28 F: Walls - reflection, transmission, absorption, Ch.15; Ex. 15.5
[Quiz 7, Chapters 12, 13, 14]
1 M - 9 M SPRING BREAK
17 Tu 11 M: Room acoustics, reverberation Ch.15; Ex. 15.1-4
18 Th 13 M: Audio and electroacoustics transducers, Ch.16, Ex. 16.1-7.
[Quiz 8, Chapters 14, 15]
19 Tu 18 M: The Rooms Experience; Room 10 Communication Arts Building, Ch.16.
20 Th 20 M: Nonlinearity and distortion, Ch.17; Ex. 17.1-6.
[Quiz 9, Chapters 15, 16]
21 Tu 25 M: Audio systems, Ch.18; Ex. 18.1-4
22 Th 27 M: Loudspeakers, Ch.19; Ex. 19.1-5
[Quiz 10, Chapters 17, 18]
23 Tu 1 A: Digital audio, Ch.20; Ex. 20.1-4
24 Th 3 A: Broadcasting, CW, AM, FM, Ch.21; Ex. 21.1-4
[Quiz 11, Chapters 19, 20]
25 Tu 8 A: Vocal anatomy, phonemes and formants, Ch.22; Ex. 22.1-6
26 Th 10 A: Spectrograms, Brass instruments, Ch.23; Ex. 23.1, 23.3.
[Quiz 12, Chapters 21, 22]
27 Tu 15 A: Woodwind instruments, Ch.24; Ex. 24.2, 24.3, 24.5
28 Th 17 A: String instruments, Ch.25; Ex. 25.2, 25.4, 25.5
[Quiz 13, Chapters 23, 24]
29 Tu 22 A: Percussion instruments, Ch.26, Ex. 26.1, 26.2, 26.5
30 Th 24 A: Electronic musical instruments, Ch.27, Evaluation, Course Review
[Make-up quiz *]
Final Exam: Monday 28 April 3:00-5:00 pm. Place to be announced,
Comprehensive, 200 points.
Grading: 13 Quizzes, every Thursday starting 17 Jan. and through 17 April.
Each quiz is 40 points; drop the lowest score; 12 times 40 = 480 points.
Clicker score = 70 points
Final Exam = 200 points.
Final grade : Based on 750 points.
* The Make-up quiz is available for any student who has missed a quiz
during the term for any reason. It is comprehensive, based on the work
for the entire term. Like other quizzes, it is worth 40 points.