Physics and the Violin

Multimedia · Wed May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:987217

Atwood, Bill

While the violin has been around for several hundreds of years, our understanding of how it works is still evolving. The character of violin sound is controlled by its frequency content, i.e., the harmonic content (or in musical terminology - the overtones). Both the player and the way in which the violin was made affect this frequency content. Both of these aspects will be examined. Research into how whole body vibrational modes can be manipulated by the violin maker during fabrication will be discussed. Examples of resulting violin sound will be demonstrated.

• Research Organization: FNAL (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States))
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Secretary of Energy (S)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 987217
• Resource Relation: Conference: Fermilab Colloquia, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batvia, Illinois (United States), presented on May 23, 2007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS