Jazz Fest workshop demonstrates the physics of music
Physics professors Christine Berven and Marty Ytreberg are musicians, but they both decided to share their passion for music in a different way for the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival.
Using flames to teach the physics of flutes, Berven and Ytreberg will explain the science of sound waves with conceptual physics lessons and demonstrations in their workshop “Making Waves with Music.” The workshop takes place 2:30 p.m. Friday in Renfrew Hall room 112 and is open to the public.
File photo by Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Professors Christine Berven and Marty Ytreberg demonstrate a visualization of sound waves using a Ruben’s tube. The pair discussed the physics behind sound waves of various musical instruments.
These demonstrations range from drawing pictures of sound waves on a blackboard to constructing a standing wave flame tube known as a Ruben’s Tube.
“The workshop is about trying to teach people how physicists think about sound,” Ytreberg said.
Ytreberg said the majority of the workshop revolves around conceptual physics and there is little math involved.
These concepts, he said, are illustrated mainly through pictures and anecdotes.
“We first explain the basics, like how to make a sound wave,” Ytreberg said. “We draw pictures and give re-world examples and then apply all of those concepts to how a wind instrument works.”
Throughout the workshop, their demonstrations explain how simple physics principles apply specifically to wind instruments, Berven said.
Demonstrations that are aided, she said, by her own experience with music.
“Marty is a guitarist, and I’ve played saxophone and clarinet,” she said. “Our music backgrounds help give us credibility and students can also see that physicists do have lives outside of their work.”
Berven said the mechanics of music is essential, because an understanding of what is going on inside the instrument will help individuals grow as artists.
Ytreberg and Berven were initially approached to conduct the workshop by Mark Nielsen, associate dean of the College of Science, and were asked to return every year since.
Berven and Ytreberg said although this is their fourth year hosting the workshop, audiences can always expect a new experience.
“There is a lot of improv, a lot of going off of the cuff,” Berven said. “The concepts that we teach are the same, but the workshop is different every year.”
Berven said she and Ytreberg also usually see familiar faces in the crowd.
Ytreberg said while they try to add a fresh angle to the subject each year, there are always audience favorites, such as the Ruben’s Tube.
“The Ruben’s Tube is the best part, so we save it for the grand finale,” Ytreberg said. “It allows you to visualize the wave in the height of the flame.”
The Ruben’s Tube, Berven said, is a cylinder about a yard long with holes on top through which propane can escape.
One end of the tube has an elastic membrane with a speaker placed next to it so when the flame is lit, the sound waves couple and are sent back and forth along the length of the tube.
“We set up these standing waves and the pressure differences cause the flames heights to vary,” Berven said. “It demonstrates the length of each frequency and is a model of what is going on inside of the instrument.”
Berven said she hopes these demonstrations dissolve the stigma that physical sciences are difficult and unapproachable subjects.
“We really want to convey that these things are understandable,” Berven said. “It doesn’t take a lot of math, just a few basic principles to understand how instruments work and how sound functions in general.”
Berven said she enjoys the workshop as an opportunity to share her love for physics with others in a dynamic way.
“Too often people have an unnecessary fear of science and math, but these subjects don’t have to be scary,” Berven said. “You don’t have to be a scientist to appreciate physics, just like you don’t have to be a professional jazz musician to appreciate jazz.”
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected]