Excerpt from “Secrets of Sound”, Native Drums Websitenative-drums.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/N-Drums-Le… · Web viewlevel. For readers who are mathematically inclined,

Excerpt from “Secrets of Sound”, Native Drums Website

TEACHER RESOURCE KIT

INDEX CARD

Native Drums Website:

The Science of SoundLesson Three:

Indigenous Music and Physics

Key Concepts:

First Peoples’ Cultures / The Drum / The Science of Music / The Science of Sound / Background Principals Relating to Sound / Vibrations / Waves / …

(*For more detail about the concepts covered in this resource kit, please see below…)

Summary of Teacher Resource Kit:

This Teacher Resource Kit consists of several different learning packages, all of which deal with the Science of Sound. Learning packages are small booklets that contain explanations, examples, diagrams, practice questions and answers, all dealing with various principals related to SOUND. Where possible, examples and perspectives from First Peoples’ cultures have been included.

Materials in Teacher Resource Kit

· Background Principals (3 Learning Packages): (1) Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity & Mediums (2) Displacement, Speed, Velocity & Acceleration (3) Force, Work, Pressure & Energy

· Vibrations (2 Learning Packages): (1) Periodic Motion, Period, Cycle, Oscillation, Frequency & Amplitude (2) Simple Harmonic Motion, Hooke’s Law, The Law of Conservation of Energy, Damping, Natural Frequency, Phases

· Waves (3 Learning Packages): (1) Wave, Pulse, Transverse Wave, Longitudinal Wave, Tension, Crests, Troughs, Condensations, Rarefactions, Sine Wave (2) Universal Wave Equation, Effects of Wavelength & Frequency on Sound, Phases of a Wave, Interference, Resonance (3) Standing Waves, Displacement Nodes, Displacement Antinodes, Pressure Nodes, Pressure Antinodes, String Instrument Example, Wind Instrument Example

Subject & Grade Areas: Secondary Physics

(List of Educational Materials)

Part 1: The Science of Sound:

Necessary Background Principals

1A. Indigenous Music & Physics

(Handout: Excerpt from Secrets of Sound Chapter, Native Drums Website - Acts as a great hook into the topic of sound.)

1B. The Physical Properties of a Body

(Learning Package: Definitions/Explanations, Practice Questions & Answers)

Key Concepts:

Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity & Mediums

1C. Disturbances of a Body


Key Concepts:

Displacement, Speed, Velocity & Acceleration

1D. Actions on a Body


Key Concepts:

Force, Work, Pressure & Energy

Part 2: Vibrations

2A. Vibrations: An Introduction


Key Concepts:

Periodic Motion, Period, Cycle, Oscillation, Frequency & Amplitude

2B. Vibrations: Simple Harmonic Motion


Key Concepts:

Simple Harmonic Motion, Hooke’s Law, The Law of Conservation of Energy, Damping, Natural Frequency, Phases

Part 3: Waves

3A. Waves: An Introduction


Key Concepts:

Wave, Pulse, Transverse Wave, Longitudinal Wave, Tension, Crests, Troughs, Condensations, Rarefactions, Sine Wave

3B. More on Waves


Key Concepts:

Universal Wave Equation, Effects of Wavelength & Frequency on Sound, Phases of a Wave, Interference, Resonance

3C. Standing Waves


Key Concepts:

Standing Waves, Displacement Nodes, Displacement Antinodes, Pressure Nodes, Pressure Antinodes, String Instrument Example, Wind Instrument Example

Note to Teachers:

We recommend this excerpt as a means of drawing students into the physics of sound. It shows the connectedness between Indigenous music and physics. As the writers of “Secrets of Sound” state, “On the invisible map, the ways in which Indigenous music and physics relate to the Universe are only a couple of hours apart.”

Excerpt from “Secrets of Sound,” Native Drums Website

By Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) and Andrew Tracy

“What I’ve learned is; you’ve got to be a driver. It’s like owning a car. You’ve got to know how to drive it.” – Jimmy Dyck, a Nehiyaw/Swampy Cree from Moose Factory, Ontario.

Indigenous people have travelled a long road. Today we use cars, but this hasn’t always been the case. My name is Cle-alls and eons before I was born, my ancestors started their journey on Haida Gwaii (the Islands of the People), located in the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia. Cle-alls is a chief’s name. After I earned my doctorate, our clan’s matriarchs named me at a potlatch. My grandfather, Dr. Peter Kelly, was Cle-alls before me, and the first Dr. Kelly.

We Haida never ceded our lands and we think of ourselves as Pacific islanders, not Indians, but the larger culture calls us Indians anyway. We are proud, however, to be Indigenous North Americans and share many values with other communities here. My uncles say our ancestors used great canoes and travelled the entire Pacific Rim. We journeyed regularly to Hawaii, they say, which uses all of Haida Gwaii’s name except the consecutive letters i, d, a and g. Our culture and even our physical appearance share much in common with the New Zealand Maori as well. Anthropologists do not necessarily agree that we could travel that far, but that is no problem. The Universe – with its infinite possibilities – is big enough to welcome us all.

The point is that cars, ocean-navigating canoes and musical instruments are special vehicles. One must understand the highway and follow its laws to drive a car. One must travel in harmony with the currents and winds and follow their laws to direct an ocean-going canoe. And, one must embrace our cultures and knowingly or intuitively follow the laws of physics to become one soul with a musical instrument.

Before it is a celebration, a religious ritual, a social practice or an art, Indigenous music – all music – is a set of practical skills musicians learn so they can understand their instruments. This knowledge is an important part of respecting Natural Law: a way of living that means so much to Native cultures and communities. To become one with an instrument is to respect it. The honour the listeners pay the instrument radiates through the community. Thus, the skills a musician seeks are both a personal pursuit and a means of connecting with the community. Our cultural rules are precise, but, music crosses cultural lines. Songs, dances and stories embrace the full continent; what the Eastern North American Anishinabe call Turtle Island.

In this essay, Andrew Tracy and I with the help of Carleton University physicists Gerald Oakham and Jim Hardy, will explore the science and spirituality that coexist within the Indigenous musical world. Our thesis is that the art of music and the science of sound are the same song sung with different words. True music begins with the player, the instrument and the community. Likewise, true science begins with space-time, math and physics.

This Haida would say that Indigenous lifeways and physics see the same ocean through different eyes.

The Indigenous musician, the song and the community are one. Every aspect of life interacts with and affects the others. The beat of a drum, the birth of a child, the people of our villages, the fish, the birds, the other animals, the plants and the songs of our elders; all these are one spirit. This is true, whether or not an outsider understands it. As author Margaret Craven would say, the moment an outsider sets foot in an Indigenous village, he becomes the village. The village is the Universe and we are one whether we know it – or like it – or not. To live in harmony in the Universe is to embrace this truth – and one another.

Physics has travelled the same waters to the same knowledge: In what remain mysterious ways, the Universe constantly interacts in all places at once with everything it contains. The farthest quasar and galaxy connects directly with every grain of sand on Earth. All the Universe’s laws, waves, particles, energy and matter depend on one another – no matter how it might look to a naïve realist. Everything began in the same place and, in real ways, are in the same place still.

In short, nothing can exist alone.

Travelling from place to place and learning the skills of their musical cultures, Indigenous musicians discover their place in the communities, their families and the world.

“It gave us a sense of where we were from and of how other people were in relation to us,” says Jimmy. “We wouldn’t measure it in miles, but in time. That community is a two-hour drive in that direction, this one is four hours that way.”

“My dad started me off, and then I started talking to different people all across Canada, getting what I needed to better myself,” says Jimmy’s son Gabe, whose mother is Ojibwe. “Different tricks to help with my voice; different skills they have, how they make drums; what wood they use, how big they make the shell; I try to learn as much as I can to improve myself, to make myself a good drummer.”

Intuitively, we sense that music’s world-wide streams converge into one. The key is the word “intuitive,” or inner knowing. Here again, indigenous musicians and physics meet in the same current. All knowledge starts with intuition. Albert Einstein credited his mathematical theories to inner moments; to insight. At Princeton, an assistant would take over teaching when such moments came. Science, therefore, in some ways is as intuitive as Native spirituality.

Einstein would have made a good Haida. My uncles taught me the wise see the world with their hearts as well as with their eyes. Another Elder who deeply influenced my life, Lakota grandfather, Sydney Keith told me: “Keep your heart good, no matter what other people do. At the end of your days you will have done a great thing. You will have seen the Great Mystery clearly.”

These insights require balance and experience, and in physics, too, knowledge requires similar qualities. In Indigenous lifeways, our communities differ, but our cultures are empowered through music and oral tradition. Physicists, too, might differ, but their cultures are empowered through mathematics and scientific tradition. Both music and mathematics are equally expressive languages. Also, people who know both physics and Indigenous cultures would certainly say both are equally precise.

In North America, our instruments are the drum, the flute, the rattle, stringed instruments and the human voice – four and a centre. Indigenous traditional music connects our people across communities and time; across continents and oceans. Worldwide, music includes the songs of my elders, but it is also Rachmaninoff and Mozart. Music is humanity’s unifier. It has the power to heal differences; to distill a universal bond. In all its forms, music’s complex interactions often combine to create pure beauty. The haunting movements are simple, but they are not simplistic. They are elegant.

Science seems complex, but not so. Physics honours the beauty of elegant simplicity. Its Unified Field Theory, for example, suggests that the Universe’s four great forces originate at a single source. They are the strong force that glues atomic nuclei together, the weak force responsible for radioactivity, electromagnetic force that includes light and radio waves and gravitational force.

Einstein helped to pioneer the theory’s mathematical language. He also said space and time are interrelated. The research has continued.

These intuitive and mathematical efforts to unite fundamental forces are not so different from indigenous cultures. We have taught for generations that the Universe is based upon four great forces. Some cultures use five (four and a centre), but the basic teaching is that all forces, phenomena and beings are interconnected. To honour this, some communities, such as the Lakota, Dakota and Nakoda, end each prayer with, “All things are my relations.”

In another way, music also seeks to unite four great forces. Communities become one in the musicians, the instruments, their vibrations and our people across space and time.

In short, music and physics – in important ways – are one.

Mathematics explains our existence, but communal and personal music has done the same thing since the Universe first conceived us. Music is the celebration that marks the four stages of life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and our older years. From our grandmother’s lullaby to our death song, music is our ocean, our highway, our seasons and our journey itself.

Of course, anyone who takes the journey also learns the currents and the road. Indigenous music, both traditional and modern, is unique. It has always underlined the tactile bond between the instrument and the musician. All art begins with its materials. Creating a drum, tuning it and caring for it teaches the drummers to recognize the basic physical qualities that they must understand and the skills that they must master.

Just as sharing knowledge binds musicians to their cultural and geographical world, constant practice binds them to the physical world. The drum maker and the drummer might or might not be the same person, but always they are one spirit. They must know the materials’ unique qualities and the sounds they make – in short, they must know the physics with which they work to develop their craft. The modern powwow drum’s sound that Gabe prefers is far deeper than a traditional powwow drum’s higher pitch. Drum makers achieve both sounds because they have manipulated a few basic physical qualities. Yet, those small differences have developed over thousands of years; through many generations of cultural evolution.

Indeed, Indigenous music and physics are kindred spirits. What empowers musicians is intuition, the same faculty that empowers physicists. The finest musicians ingrain their art into the practical. Thus, when we learn about science we can better understand that which Indigenous art intuits. All music shares the same physics. Indeed, the idea of two different worlds can be misleading. On the invisible map, the ways in which Indigenous music and physics relate to the Universe are only a couple of hours apart.

Excerpt from “Secrets of Sound”, Native Drums Website

Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) & Andrew Tracy

“The art of music and the science of sound are the same song sung with different words.”

Indeed, Indigenous music and physics are kindred spirits. What empowers musicians is intuition, the same faculty that empowers physics. Musicians have ingrained their art into the practical; they have made it second nature. Thus, when we learn about science we can better understand that which Indigenous art intuits. Also, if we learn the fundamental principles that underlie all musical systems, we will see that music shares the same physics. Indeed, the idea of two different worlds can be misleading. On the invisible map, the ways in which Indigenous music and physics relate to the Universe are only a couple of hours apart.

All Art Begins With Its Materials . . .

“Indigenous music, both traditional and modern, is unique. It has always underlined the tactile bond between the instrument and the musician. All art begins with its materials. Creating a drum, tuning it and caring for it teaches the drummers to recognize the basic physical qualities that they must understand and the skills that they must master.

“Just as sharing knowledge binds musicians to their cultural and geographical world, constant practice binds them to the physical world. The drum maker and the drummer might or might not be the same person, but always they are one spirit. They must know the materials’ unique qualities and the sounds they make – in short, they must know the physics with which they work to develop their craft. The modern powwow drum’s sound that Gabe prefers is far deeper than a traditional powwow drum’s higher pitch. Drum makers achieve both sounds because they have manipulated a few basic physical qualities. Yet, those small differences have developed over thousands of years; through many generations of cultural evolution.”

Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) and Andrew Tracy, Native Drums Website

To Understand an Instrument is to Respect It . . .

“Before it is a celebration, a religious ritual, a social practice or an art, Indigenous music – all music – is a set of practical skills musicians learn so they can understand their instruments. This knowledge is an important part of respecting Natural Law: a way of living that means so much to Native cultures and communities. To become one with an instrument is to respect it. The honour the listeners pay the instrument radiates through the community. Thus, the skills a musician seeks are both a personal pursuit and a means of connecting with the community. Our cultural rules are precise, but, music crosses cultural lines. Songs, dances and stories embrace the full continent; what the Eastern North American Anishinaabeg call Turtle Island.”


The Properties of a Physical Body

Concepts Covered in this Package:

Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity and Mediums

Introduction

Scientists know that the disembodied strains of music that reach our ears, drifting invisibly in the air around us, are the result of the same laws of physics that govern our lives and movements in the natural world. In short, music itself is subject to the same forces that keep the Universe in balance and affect our very lives. Therefore, the “how” and “why” of music is in harmony with the laws of physics. These laws enable us to create the sounds that for many thousands of years have inspired musicians and listeners alike.


Consider now, the physics of items that musicians have used to create musical sound. Among them are the skin of the drum, the strings and box of the violin, the long tube of the flute, the pebbles and hide of the rattle as well as the air with which all these parts are in contact. The following are the basic qualities possessed by every physical body: Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity, (occupies a) Medium.

Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity and Medium

Mass is how much matter an object contains. The most common measurements are the gram (g) and the kilogram (kg).

Weight refers to how much force gravity exerts on an object’s mass, that is, the downward pull that keeps the body connected to the earth’s surface. The mass of an object will always remain constant, but its weight can change if this gravitational pull changes. In outer space, for example, an object keeps its mass, but becomes weightless. Its innate essence remains the same regardless of its interactions with other influences.

“Both scientific and Indigenous teachings embrace this principle. The forces that change our true nature are not external. They must come from within.”

Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly), “Secrets of Sound,” Native Drums Website)

Formula for Weight:

· W = m x g

· W = weight, m = mass (in kg) and g = gravitational acceleration (m/s2)

· Weight is measured in Newtons (Newton = kg. m/s2)

· Gravitational acceleration on earth: g = 9.8 m/ sec2)

Inertia is that property of a body that resists changes in its motion. If an object is at rest it will remain at rest, and if in uniform motion along a straight line, it will remain in that motion until an outside force or forces acts upon it.

So, inertia raises two possibilities:

1. If an object is not moving it will stay perfectly still until something makes it move.

2. If an object is moving in a straight line it will keep going forever unless something makes the object change its velocity or direction.

Elasticity is that property of an object that allows an outside force to deform it from its original state without breaking it. It then allows the object to return to its original state once the outside force has been removed. When anything produces a sound, elasticity plays an important role. However, elasticity does not apply to media such as air.

The medium is the material through which vibrations move from one place to another. Medium comes from the Latin word medius, which means “middle.” So, think of a medium as the middle, or go-between, for bringing vibrations from an instrument to your ears. It can be a liquid, such as water; or a gas, such as air. All musical instruments – drums, stringed instruments, flutes and others – produce the vibrations we hear as sound. The music is the sound source and air is the medium, just as for humpback whales the medium is water.

Test Your Understanding About

the Properties of a Physical Body:

*To read more about the examples of native drums used below, see “Real Life Applications of Science: Excerpts from the Native Drums Website”.

1. Which has more mass?

· A large powwow drum (played by several people at once)

· A “single head” hand drum

2. Which would weigh more?

· A body on Earth (g = 9.8 m/s2)

· A body on Mars (g = 3.7 m/s2)

3. Which is NOT an example of a box drum in equilibrium?

· A box drum suspended from the ceiling, not in use.

· A box drum being played.

4. The hand drum used by First Peoples is typically made by stretching a thin piece of animal skin over a very thin plank of wood bent into a circular frame. Which part of this hand drum best exemplifies the property of elasticity?

· The thin piece of animal skin stretched over the thin plank of wood.

· The thin plank of wood bent into a circular frame.

5. Which of the following would result in NO SOUND:

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with ABSOLUTELY NO AIR;

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with LOTS OF AIR;

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with JUST A BIT OF AIR.

6. Which of the following would result in the LOUDEST SOUND:

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with ABSOLUTELY NO AIR;

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with LOTS OF AIR;

· A hand drum placed in an airtight container with JUST A BIT OF AIR.

7. True or False: Sound needs a medium through which to travel. Without a medium, no sound exists.

· True

· False

*Check your answers. Correct answers located on last page.Real Life Applications of Science:

Excerpts from the Native Drums Website

Powwow Drums

· In the Plains region, drum groups use large, coffee table-size drums during powwow ceremonies. The group has numerous members all of whom play the powwow drum at the same time.

· The powwow brings all peoples together. It is also a symbol of First Peoples’ solidarity and a way for Native people to express their cultural heritage.

Hand Drums

· Many First Nations use hand drums for various occasions and ceremonies.

· One example is the “single head” hand drum that Mi’kmaq First Peoples of Canada’s maritime provinces use.

· Another example is the octagonal-shaped hand held drums that various nations use.

· Ojibwe First Peoples traditionally used hand drums. They make the drum heads of deer or moose hide, and use birch bark for the body. Over time, they began participating in powwow events, and now create and use the larger Plains-style drums as well.

· The Tlingit of the Northwest Coast region of Canada, use ornately decorated hand drums that they paint with their crests and totems on the inside, where it will not be worn off by the constant beating with a drum stick.

Other coastal peoples, including the Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakw’aka’wakw and the Coast Salish also ornately paint their crests and totems on their hand drums. But, they usually paint the drum heads on the outside using very durable paints that can withstand constant drumming.

· A special type of hand drum is the water drum, used mainly by Haudenosaunee and Ojibwe Peoples.

· Inuit and Inuvialuit First Peoples use very large hand drums with handles. A variety of materials are used for the construction of these drums, such as the skin of deer, caribou and mountain sheep, as well as the intestines of whale or walrus. Antler and bone as well as wood are used for the drum beaters.

During the past century however, cloth and nylon have sometimes been used instead of animal skins to construct the drumheads. These drums usually do not carry the same sacred significance as skin drums.

Box Drums

· Some First Nations in the Northwest Coast region use huge box drums. This drum resembles a large, flat, wooden box and is often made of red cedar. These drums do not have a membrane like the powwow and hand drums. To play the drum, it is suspended from the ceiling, and pounded only with a fist wrapped in cedar bark. Drummers have to find just the right spot to make these drums resonate.

Suggested Reading:

“Indigenous Music and Physics,” by Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) and Andrew Tracy, “Secrets of Sound,” Native Drums Website

Answers

1. A large powwow drum (played by several people at once)

2. A body on Earth

3. A box drum being played

4. The thin piece of animal skin stretched over the thin plank of wood.

5. A hand drum placed in an airtight container with ABSOLUTELY NO AIR

6. A hand drum placed in an airtight container with LOTS OF AIR

7. True


Displacement, Speed and Velocity

Introduction

To make music requires motion of either some part of the musical instrument or the air within it. Here we discuss the physical quantities related to this motion. An instrument will remain quiet until vibrations are produced in it, or as a physicist would put it: until it is disturbed from its state of rest or equilibrium. This is related to Newton’s first law of motion:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless something applies an external force.

Thus, if a musical body is initially at rest, nothing can happen until something disturbs it. Something has to move the musical body to release the sounds it can produce. Music, therefore, is an art of motion: a hand or bow exciting the strings of a violin, a stream of air from the mouth passing through the flute, a musician shaking a rattle or playing a drum.

The following terms measure and define these disturbances.

Displacement happens when a part of the musical instrument initially at rest is moved to a new position. In considering this effect, we must account for both the magnitude (the distance moved) and the direction in which the part moves.

Speed measures how much displacement occurs in a given time. Usually, we express this either by metres per second or kilometres per hour. We calculate speed, which we will call (S), by the quotient of distance (d) traveled and the time (t) the displacement took:

S = d/t

Another way to say this is speed equals distance divided by time.

Velocity is a term we often use synonymously with speed. Although we won’t deal with this here, velocity is more informative than speed alone because it indicates the direction in which the displacement takes place. Technically, speed is a scalar quantity, while velocity is a vector quantity.

Suggested Reading:

“Indigenous Music and Physics,” by Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) and Andrew Tracy, “Secrets of Sound,” Native Drums Website


Disturbances of a Body:

*To read more about the Science of Sound, visit “Secrets of Sound” on the Native Drums Website.

1.Displacement happens when a body at rest moves to a new position.

· True

· False

2.Velocity, a term we often use synonymously with speed. Although we won’t deal with this here, velocity is more informative than speed alone because it indicates the direction in which the displacement takes place.

· True

· False

3.What is the formula for speed?

· Direction/Time

· Distance/Time

· Acceleration/Time

*Check your answers. Correct answers located on last page.Answers

1. True

2. True

3. Distance/time

Force is any external cause or influence that makes a body move

Indigenous Music and Physics

“Indeed, Indigenous music and physics are kindred spirits. What empowers musicians is intuition, the same faculty that empowers physicists. The finest musicians ingrain their art into the practical. Thus, when we learn about science we can better understand that which Indigenous art intuits. All music shares the same physics. Indeed, the idea of two different worlds can be misleading. On the invisible map, the ways in which Indigenous music and physics relate to the Universe are only a couple of hours apart.”


Knowing the drum means to know . . . the Universe . . ..

“Knowing the drum means to know not just the body, but the Universe in which the body moves. Drumming is a means of connecting to the Earth and the forces it sets in motion. Drums, flutes, stringed instruments and the singing voice are the ancient music of humanity on Earth. These form a language that interconnects our collective existence here. At the same time, the mathematics of physics is the music of the Universe, a language that interconnects us to existence.

“The two languages describe our shared world differently, yet they are not so different after all. Indigenous people learn the ways of the ancestors and other North Americans learn the ways of science and physics. But, this potentially could unite these great lifeways rather than divide them. All of us are living in the present. All of us are learning what an ancient yet timeless Universe is teaching humanity, namely, that each of us whether with intuition or the mind should – in our own way – honour the Creator.

“This we should know: In real ways, the Universe is music. Time, space, intuition and the laws of physics combine to set the music in motion – drawing on that energy and returning it; a reflection travelling endlessly back and forth.”


Actions on a Body


Force, Work, Pressure and Energy

Introduction

Newton’s first law of motion works in music because an object in motion keeps going unless an opposite force pushes it back toward the other direction. When someone plucks a guitar string, for example, the opposite force might be the tension in the tightly-stretched string that wants to pull it back to its resting position. This dance between inertia, motion and opposite forces creates vibrations, which we hear as sound. In physics, these actions and how they affect the musical body are as follows:

Force is any external cause that makes a body move or, if it is already moving, changes its speed or direction. Thus, in a object such as a guitar string, a force creates an unbalanced (unequalized) condition when it alters its natural quiescent state.

A guitar string, for example, is under tension. When displaced, the string’s tension always produces a restoring force. Any force, however small, will move an object. But, to produce music the force must be sufficient to set up a large enough vibration to be audible. Lesser masses require lesser force to disturb their state of rest or uniform motion. Greater masses (thicker strings) require greater force to disturb their equilibrium.

Science has fittingly designated one unit of force as a newton (N). Although we won’t need to use the formula here, one newton equals the force required to accelerate one kilogram in a particular direction across one metre per second every second. In other words, in a frictionless world like outer space, the same force would accelerate the body in the same direction faster and faster. Every second the force would keep pushing the object a metre per second faster.

Work is what happens to a body. Work equals force times the body’s displacement in the direction the force is moving it. Unlike force, work is a scalar quantity.

In the 19th century, James Prescott Joule designed a formula to measure work. We have designated his unit as a joule (J).

Joule’s formula for work is simple. To calculate joules of work, (J), multiply the force in newtons (N) times the distance (d) a body moves in metres. The following equation calculates work:

Formula for Work:

J = N times d

In other words, if a constant force moves a body one metre, the work that the force does (in joules) equals the force’s strength (in newtons).

Pressure equals force per unit area. Audible sound, for example, is vibrating air. Technically, sound waves are rapid changes in air pressure – usually hundreds or thousands of times per second. The formula that measures sound pressure is Newtons per square metre (N/m2). Decibels (dB) measure sound intensity level. For readers who are mathematically inclined, decibels are roughly proportional to the common logarithm of the ratio of sound pressure to that at the threshold of hearing.

Energy is the ability to do work. Every physical body has energy. This chapter discusses four types of energy that affect music: Potential, kinetic, heat and acoustic.

A body holds potential energy while at rest. The energy is dormant until something produces work that lifts or stretches the body. This releases the body’s energy.

Kinetic energy is what happens when an item moves. For example, if you drop a heavy weight, you release kinetic energy (the energy of motion). Also, as the weight falls, the friction between it and the air through which the weight is moving slows it down. This friction transforms some of the weight’s kinetic energy into heat energy. Newton’s third law of motion covers this, including how a musical instrument transforms energy to sound and heat:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The final form, acoustic energy is vibrating air, namely, the sounds we hear as music. The law of conservation of energy says that while energy can change forms, it can neither be created nor destroyed. For example, when a musical instrument vibrates, the air picks the motion up as heat and acoustic energy, which drains away the instrument’s mechanical energy (potential energy plus kinetic energy). Physics mathematically predicts the mechanical energy the instrument loses will precisely equal the sum of the radiated acoustic energy and the dissipated heat loss.

(((

“The drum is the heartbeat of the people. When you play, it’s doing something physical to your body, that ba-boom, ba-boom, pumping your blood. The more energy you put into that drum, the more you get out of it”

– Jimmy Dick, a Nehiyaw/Swampy Cree from Moose Factory, Ontario

(“Secrets of Sound”, Native Drums Website)


Disturbances of a Body:

*To read more about the Science of Sound, visit “Secrets of Sound” on the Native Drums Website.

1. True or False: In music an object in motion keeps going unless friction or another force acts to slow it down or stop it. Think of an example to support your answer.

· True

· False

· Example: ___________________________________________________________

2. Which of the following statements about “work” is incomplete:

· We define work as how much force something exerts.

· Shaking a rattle is an example of work.

· Explain: ___________________________________________________________

3. True or False: Sound is impossible without rapid changes in air pressure.

· True

· False

4. What do rapid changes in air pressure create?

· ______________________________

5. Which of the following instruments is exhibiting kinetic energy?

· A drummer playing a rhythm on the drum.

· A guitar at rest in its case.

6. What four major forms of energy should you consider when thinking about musical instruments? Provide a definition for each.

· ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

· ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

· ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

· ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Check your answers. Correct answers located on last page.

Suggested Reading:

“Indigenous Music And Physics,” by Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly) And Andrew Tracy, “Secrets Of Sound,” Native Drums Website

Answers

1. True (Examples: Playing a drum, strumming a guitar, plucking a violin string . . .)

2. “We measure work as how much force something exerts” is not a complete statement. Work is not just the force, it also is what the force does. Work equals force multiplied by how far the body is displaced in the direction the force is moving it.

3. True

4.Rapid changes in air pressure happens when a vibrating object makes the air vibrate, too. The air carries those vibrations to our ears, which we hear as audible sounds.

5. A drummer playing a rhythm on the drum.

6. Four major forms of energy relate to musical bodies. Potential energy is that which a body possesses while it is at rest. This energy lies dormant until something works on a body to elevate or stretch it. The body then has the potential of releasing the energy, for example, dropping a heavy weight that you have lifted off the floor. When you drop the weight, it is exhibiting kinetic energy. As the body moves, the friction between the body and the medium through which it is moving will slow it down. This transforms some of the body’s kinetic energy into heat energy. The fourth form, acoustic energy, is sound, namely, the vibrating air we hear as themusic itself.

The Physics of Sound:

Background Principals Necessary to the

Understanding of Sound and Waves

Part One:



Mass, Weight, Inertia, Elasticity and Mediums

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Part Two:

Disturbances of a Body


Displacement, Speed, and Velocity

�The Same Song Sung with Different Words . . .

The art of music and the science of sound are the same song sung with different words. True music begins with the player, the instrument and the community. Likewise, true science begins with space-time, math and physics.

Cle-alls (Dr. John Medicine Horse Kelly), Native Drums Website

The Art of Motion . . .

“Music, like life, is an art of motion, but a specific motion; one that begins from a fixed, stable centre in which all forces balance out – the equilibrium position – and rapidly moves back and forth.”

-Andrew Tracy, Native Drums Website




Part Three:

Actions on a Body


Force, Work, Pressure and Energy

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An Introduction into the Sound and Wave Unit

1

Documents

Excerpt from “Secrets of Sound”, Native Drums Websitenative-drums.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/N-Drums-Le… · Web viewlevel. For readers who are mathematically inclined,