PIRA 3D40.40 Monochord
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Picture shows demonstration used at the University
of Texas at Austin
Faculty Instructions:
- Play both strings to demonstrate identical pitch.
- Introduce one fret at the middle and play one half of the string to raise the pitch by an octave.
- Move the fret to the 200mm mark and play the longer string with the unfitted string in unison. This is a perfect fifth.
- Move the fret to the 150mm mark and play the longer string with the unfitted string in unison. This is a perfect fourth.
- For another application of this demo, faculty may add a nylon string with different weights to show how tension changes the pitch of the string.
Concepts Conveyed:
- There is tape on the side of the demo which is 600mm long, with each colored section being 50mm.
- Demonstration conveys the correlation between musical pitch and length of vibrating strings.
Demo Staff Notes:
- Carefully tune both strings to the same note (recommended note is C4, though simply tuning both strings to the same note is fine). This may take some time.
- You may use the keyboard in the demo lab fourth floor for reference to tune the monochord.
Last Updated 2023 - University of Texas at Austin Physics Department - All Rights Reserved.
