Music can be a great way to learn more about science. This project uses music to examine whether there is a correlation between age, gender, or musical background and being able to sing with perfect pitch.
Ali really loves to make music. Help make Ali's dream come true. Together, answer questions about musical instruments.
This six-day lesson provides students with an introduction to the importance of energy in their lives and the need to consider how and why we consume the energy we do. The lesson includes activities to engage students in general energy issues, including playing an award-winning Energy Choices board game, and an optional graphing activity that provides experience with MS Excel graphing and perspectives on how we use energy and how much energy we use.
Students estimate the storage capacity of CDs and DVDs by assessing diffraction patterns of green and red laser beams.
In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast investigates how the pitch of sound changes when they strike a variety of glasses filled with different amounts and types of liquids. [5:07]
Filtering is the process of removing or separating the unwanted part of a mixture. In signal processing, filtering is specifically used to remove or extract part of a signal, and this can be accomplished using an analog circuit or a digital device (such as a computer). In this lesson, students learn the impact filtering can have on different types of signals, the concepts of frequency and spectrum, and the connections these topics have to real-world signals such as musical signals. Students also learn the roles that these concepts play in designing different types of filters. The lesson content prepares students for the associated activity in which they use an online demo and a variety of filters to identify the message in a distress signal heavily corrupted by noise.
Use the Sound Grapher to create visualizations of sound and learn about the frequency, wavelength, amplitude and velocity of sound waves.
In this classroom guided inquiry lesson, students will rotate through five stations of various sound instruments to look at how length affects pitch. Student will develop a hypothesis, make observations, and draw a conclusion about what happens when the length of the vibrating sound source changes.
Students will investigate how sounds are made and changed, record their findings in their journal, share these findings with the class, and develop further questions about sound.
This is an activity demonstrating how pitch varies using water bottles, and allows students to investigate pitch further with rulers, straws, and water bottles.
After learning about different stringed instruments, students create their own and then investigate how length and width of the strings affect the pitch. Lesson includes handouts, a rubric, a bibliography, and links.
In this lesson, students explore the relationship between fractions and musical pitch. Media resources and teaching materials are included.
In this video, musician Jake Shimabukuro uses the pitch of musical notes and vibrations in hertz to illustrate the concept of ratios. This clip is from Center for Asian American Media. In the accompanying classroom activity, students watch a portion of the video in which Shimabukuro explains the 3/4 time signature. After a brief introduction to musical pitch, students watch the rest of the video. They then use a chart listing the frequency of musical notes to identify ratios among notes that are one or more octaves apart. To get the most from the activity, students should have some familiarity with physics of sound.
Provides an explanation of half steps, whole steps, flats, and sharps. Illustrated examples accompany these definitions. (Macromedia Flash player is necessary to view this site.)
Explores the pitch of sound, how it relates to the frequency of sound waves, and what infrasound and ultrasound are.
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This activity is an investigation where students use tools to determine how the length of a sound source affects its pitch.
Find the next hit movie based on trends by structuring and analyzing data in a spreadsheet. Time to complete: 6-9 hours
Watch the rubber bands vibrate on homemade guitars in this video segment adapted from ZOOM as cast members talk about pitch and demonstrate how to make a cereal box instrument.
Watch the rubber bands vibrate on homemade guitars in this video segment adapted from ZOOM as cast members talk about pitch and demonstrate how to make a cereal box instrument. [2:59]
This video segment, adapted from ZOOM, explores the different sounds that a simple drinking straw can produce when you cut the straw and blow into it.