Physics and music have been related for thousands of years. The art and the science of music acoustics are presented here, in musician-friendly format, as is some of our research in music science.

Navigate this site using the headings and images above. Usually, there is a non-technical introduction, followed by or linked to more detailed work. 'Basics' gives simple introductions to general topics.

News

• New scientific papers on mouth effects on the clarinet, finger motion on the flute, Wagner's operas and much more. See Publications.
• John McLennan's PhD is awarded for the baroque-romantic evolution of the violin.
• Music Science at UNSW: inter-faculty collaborations in research and teaching.
• New web site and data base on saxophone acoustics.
• The NICTA-UNSW robot clarinet player.
• Meet our two postdoctoral staff: André Almeida and Maëva Garnier.

Recent projects

• Saxophonists learn to tune their vocal tracts: a recent study. Reported in Science.
• The Sounds of World English: 'map' your own accent and contribute to this global project.
• Arlen Fast, of New York Philharmonic, had a sabbatical project here on the contrabassoon.
• The Neville Fletcher archive honours an outstanding researcher.
• How do violins change with age and playing: an interim report on a long term study.
• Vocal tract tuning by sopranos: how do they sing so loudly? Reported in Nature.
• The acoustics of harmonic singing: introduction and measurements.
• The didjeridu:how can a simple instrument make so many sounds? Reported in Nature.
• Test your own hearing response curve using this interactive web service.

• FAQ - Frequently asked questions about music acoustics. For example: What is a decibel?
• Introduction to the acoustics of musical instruments. This series of web pages, with plenty of illustrations and sound files, presents an introduction to brass instruments, saxophone, clarinet, flute, violin, guitar and didjeridu.

 

Excellence in acoustics

This website has won a Scientific American Science and Technlogy Web Award 2005 for its innovation, creativity and value. It has also won the MERLOT 2005 Editors' Choice Award for exemplary online learning resources.

Other recent awards won by the Acoustics Lab.

How to get to UNSW Acoustics Lab: Maps