Music Acoustics and Technology

Introduction to acoustical perspectives concerning music, musical instruments and music perception. Topics: Functioning, sound generation and sound radiation mechanisms of the different families of musical instruments. The hearing mechanism and perception of music in rooms. Music scales and perception of musical sounds. Sound synthesis and physical modeling of music instruments, and related signal processing techniques.

Knowledge: The candidate has - Thorough knowledge about music instruments and the acoustical aspects of music performance - Good knowledge about music analysis, that is, analysis of the music viewed as a signal - Good knowledge about music synthesis, in particular physics based simulation - Thorough knowledge about the structure and functioning of the hearing sense; perception and experience of music in rooms Skills: The candidate is able to - Describe music as a signal (time, frequency, amplitude) - Describe the structure, functioning, use and control of acoustical instruments - Perform a physically based simulation of some type of music instrument

Lectures, obligatory theoretical exercises and simulation exercises.