ASA 127th Meeting M.I.T. 1994 June 6-10

4aED9. Demonstrations with wind instruments and the spectrum analyzer.

James P. Cottingham

Phys. Dept., Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

The ready availability of the FFT spectrum analyzer has made it possible for such notions as Fourier components and vibration recipes to come alive for students in elementary level courses in musical acoustics. The spectrum analyzer is helpful not only in the laboratory, but also in class demonstrations. Several examples will be shown involving normal modes and overblowing of wind instruments. The instruments are played either mechanically or by human players, and important phenomena can be viewed ``live'' on the display screen as they are heard.