UIUC Physics 406
Acoustical Physics of Music
Student Projects/Experimental Results
Spring Semester 2013:

1. Adam Alewdeidat investigated some of the acoustical properties of Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for Performing Arts, UIUC.

• Auditorium Acoustics: Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for Performing Arts

2. Alex Wang built a guitar tuner pedal.

• Guitar Tuner Pedal

3. Anna Czerepak built and used a test setup for measuring the complex impedance of capacitors, and also investigated the nature of noise in capacitors.

• Capacitor Noise

4. Ben Wooley carried out a comparative analysis of keyboard instruments, and also built and tested a steel pan drum.

• Comparative Analysis of Acoustic/Electro-Mechanical Keyboard Instruments vs. Their Digitally Synthesized Counterparts

• Construction of a Steel Pan Drum

5. Bill Swanson and Colin McNeill built and tested a theremin.

• Building a Theremin

6. Casey Camacho built and tested a banjolele.

• Construction of a Banjolele

7. Dan Gualandri investigated various acoustical properties of his Zager ZAD-50CE acoustic guitar.

• Analysis of an Acoustic Guitar

8. Elise McCarren developed a unit plan for teaching the physics of music and sound to elementary school students.

• Unit Plan - Physics of Music and Sound

9. Fanshi Liu built and tested a set of electric guitar pickups for his Fender Stratocaster guitar.

• Winding Single-Coil Pickups for a Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar

10. Jack Blandin built and compared a solid-state vs. hybrid tube headphone amps.

• Solid-State vs. Hybrid Tube Headphone Amplifier

11. Kim Mowry built and tested a thumb piano.

• Kim's Awesome Thumb Piano!!!

12. Kira Bonk carried out acoustical measurements of pan and concert flutes

• Acoustic Measurements of Pan and Concert Flutes

13. Michael Schubert modified the tone controls of his VHT-1 tube amp, and carried out before vs. after measurements of its freqeuency response

• Modification of a Tube Amplifier

14. Michael Wojcik built and tested a pair of 2-way bookshelf loudspeakers.

• 2-Way Loudspeakers

15. Molly Cooper built and tested a PVC and duct tape bagpipes.

• Building CPVC and Duct Tape Bagpipes

16. Miles Gearon and Zac Schmitt investigated the acoustical properties of helium-filled instruments.

• A Brief Study of Helium as a Medium for Acoustic Propagation

17. Nicholas Jarosz built and tested a pair of electrostatic headphones.

• Electrostatic Headphone Design and Construction

18. Nick D'Anna developed various programs for use with National Instruments PXIe data acquisition system

• Data Acquisition with the PXIe-4492

19. Robbie Regalbuto and Michelle Ansai designed, built, and wrote code for a sound-localizing linear array of 8 loudspeakers

• Sound Localizing Speaker Array

20. Robert Gray developed a program to pictures into music

• Turning Pictures into Music

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