Strings

- The Strings -

For the family of instruments known as the string instruments, the initial source of sound energy comes from a vibrating string. Instruments in this group include the violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar, and harp. The following diagram gives an overview of how the music is created from an initial "source" of acoustic excitation, through a path that will modify this excitation on it's way to the receiver, a listener's ear.

Press for demonstration. Under Construction

In the next several lessons, we'll focus on different aspects of this source-path-receiver system. In Lesson 4, we consider the source and the basics of string vibration. In Lesson 5, we'll look at the instrument path, from the string to the body and air chamber. In Lesson 6, we'll study how all of this sound energy reaches the listener's ear. In Lesson 9, we'll investigate how the human ear processes the sound and sends it to the brain.

Acoustics & Vib. Lab.