Resource: How Sound Works

This past week, I taught a class on How Sound Works as a part of my teaching duties at Montclair State University. I am REALLY enjoying teaching undergraduate music students about music technology at my alma mater, and I have been spending an inordinate amount of time preparing for each class. My syllabus takes on the topic of How Sound Works, and I will admit that I learned a TON of new information in my preparation. I figured it might also be useful information for any music teacher who wants to teach their students about this fundamental topic.

A great first step to get students to understand about how sound works is to have them play around with the Sound Waves activity on the Chrome Music Lab. Because sound travels in waves through a variety of media (including the air), this visual experiment shows how molecules of air transfer the vibrations of sound - making waves.

Next, I created a YouTube Playlist that includes videos from Audio University which is an AMAZING free resource for anyone interested in music technology, audio, and recording. One of my favorite videos in the playlist is the High Frequency Hearing Test - which plays a series of high frequencies - starting at 8,000kHz. As I am now in my mid-50s, it was somewhat disheartening to be “out” on example number 2. Check this out with your students and see how you do.

Another one of my favorites - just because I think it is so incredibly cool to see the visualizations of sound waves, is the one below on why instruments sound different. Skip ahead to about 2’30” to see an incredible sound experiment that lets you see various frequencies and timbres.

Lastly, I found a really cool online Virtual Oscilloscope that lets you see how various sounds and pitches “look”. I am sure that your students will find it as fascinating as mine did. I hope that these resources are useful to you. Let me know what you think!