Orchestra Concert!

Yesterday Orchestra 4 and 5 had a concert at Mamiya Theater. I couldn't believe this was the last concert I was going to play in as a member of Orchestra 4. It was kind of sad to know that I won't be involved in orchestra anymore after the end of the school year. By the end of the last piece we played, it sort of hit me that my time in orchestra for the last four years is about to come to an end. I decided to do this week's journal on material we covered last chapter about frequency.

Physics is clearly in play during an orchestra concert. Each instrument, whether string or wind, expresses certain frequencies to produce sound. The fundamental frequency of a string instrument like a violin is determined by the the string's mass per length and tension. Both change the wave speed of the string which change the frequency of the strings. Each string on the violin has a different linear density and tension. Tension on the string can either increase or decrease by turning the tuning pegs by the scroll of the violin. Playing certain notes on the violin create specific lengths that therefore create different fundamental frequencies. The fundamental frequency is calculated by dividing the wave speed of the string by two times the string length or the string's wavelength. Harmonics are multiples of the the fundamental frequency.

Music created by instruments is all because of physics!