*TA2250410*

c TA225/L

Level 2 Course Examination 2004

THE TECHNOLOGY OF MUSIC

Monday, 18th October 10.00 am - 1.00 pm

Time allowed: 3 hours

This examination is in TWO parts. You should attempt BOTH of them.

Write your answers in the answer books provided and use separate
answer books for Part I and for each question in Part II.
Part I carries 60% of the total examination marks.
Answer ALL of the questions in Part I. You are advised to spend about
1 hour and 45 minutes on this part.
Part II carries 40% of the total examination marks.
There are four questions (each carrying 20%); answer ANY TWO of them.
You are advised to spend about 1 hour and 15 minutes on this part.
Remember, you must use separate answer books for Part I and
for each Part II question.

At the end of the examination

Check that you have written your personal identifier and examination number on
each answer book used. Failure to do so will mean that your work cannot
be identified.
Put all your used answer books and your question paper together with your
signed desk record on top. Fix them all together with the paper fastener
provided.

Note, you may need to refer to the TA225 Reference Manual, which you
should have with you, to answer some of the questions.

Copyright © 2004 The Open University

 PART I
Attempt ALL the questions in this part of the examination. The marks for each
question are indicated alongside the question. Part I carries 60% of the marks
for the examination and you are advised to spend about 1 hour 45 minutes
answering it. Use a separate (thicker) answer book for Part I.

Question 1 (a) The reed of a wind instrument is found to perform 2000 complete cycles of
(5 marks) oscillation in 10 seconds.
(i) What is the fundamental frequency of oscillation of the reed described
above?
(ii) What is the period of this oscillation?
(b) If a pressure wave in the air has a wavelength of 1.7 m, what is its
frequency? Take the speed of sound the be 340 m/s.
Show your working/explain your results in all your answers.

Question 2 Table 1 is an incomplete table showing the frequencies of the harmonic series
(8 marks) with a fundamental frequency of 110 Hz.
(a) Copy the table into your answer book and complete the frequency column.
Table 1 Harmonic series for a fundamental frequency of 110 Hz

Harmonic number Frequency (Hz)

1
2
3
4
5
6

(b) (i) If the note A4 has a frequency of 440 Hz, what note is the fundamental
frequency in Table 1?
(ii) Write down the two pitches that, together with A4, form the three pitches
of an A major triad based on A4.
(iii) Three of the harmonics in Table 1 have the pitches referred to in
part (ii) above. Write down which harmonic number refers to which
pitch. (Make sure it is clear which pitch refers to which harmonic
number.)

Question 3 (a) Suppose you are presented with two sounds, A and B, played
(7 marks) simultaneously. You find that the threshold for detecting sound B decreases
when sound A is removed. What is the name of the psychoacoustical
phenomenon that explains your observation?
(b) In about 100 words explain why the cochlea might be described as a
frequency analyser.
(c) In response to a particular sound, the motion of the basilar membrane is
observed to be maximal at a location about 5 mm from the base. Bearing in
mind that the basilar membrane is about 32 mm long, which of the following
is most likely to be the fundamental frequency of the sound: 15 kHz, 200 Hz,
or 150 Hz? Justify your answer.

TA225/L 2
Question 4 Calculate the first three resonance frequencies of a 1.3 m long cylindrical tube
(8 marks) of radius 0.02 m which is open at both ends. Include any end corrections and
assume that the speed of sound is 340 m/s. Show your working.

Question 5 Books on orchestration describe the timbre of the modern trumpet as bright and
(6 marks) clear.
(a) (i) State ONE feature of the trumpet’s construction that contributes to this
characteristic timbre.
(ii) Briefly explain why this feature helps to produce a bright clear sound.
(b) (i) Briefly describe the function of a valve in a modern trumpet.
(ii) Outline why the keyed trumpet has had only limited success.

Question 6 (a) (i) Explain the principle underlying additive synthesis in electronic
(6 marks) instruments.
(ii) Write down ONE example of an electronic instrument that uses additive
synthesis.
(b) Outline the construction and operation of a Theremin. Include in your answer
an explanation of what the heterodyning principle is and how it is used to
alter the pitch of the notes the instrument produces.

Question 7 (a) Outline the letterpress principle of music printing using separate pieces of
(6 marks) type (approx. 100 words).
(b) Write down TWO problems with the use of the above letterpress method of
printing music.

Question 8 A General MIDI message consists of the following two byte values:
(8 marks)
195 17
(a) What is this MIDI message?
(b) Write down the equivalent 8-bit binary code for the first of the two byte
values. (Note, working is not required for full marks, but part marks may be
awarded for an incorrect answer where some correct working is shown.)
(c) How long will this message take to transmit along a standard serial MIDI
connection? Show your working and explain your answer.

Question 9 Ever since the development of recordable compact discs (CD-R and CD-R/W)
(6 marks) the record industry has wanted to provide a secure copy prevention technology
to prevent standard audio compact discs (CDs) from being copied.
(a) Why is it not possible for a completely new and secure copy protection
technology to be incorporated into newly issued compact discs?
(b) Describe briefly ONE method that is being used to try to prevent CDs from
being copied.
(c) Why ultimately are all copy prevention technologies unable to prevent the
contents of an original CD from being copied?

TURN OVER
TA225/L 3
 PART II
Answer any TWO questions in this part of the examination. Each question
carries 20% of the total examination marks. You are advised to spend about
1 hour 15 minutes on Part II. Use a separate answer book for each question
in Part II and write the number of the question in the box provided on the front of
the answer book.

Question 10 Figure 1 shows the idealised normalised frequency response of a small

(20 marks) loudspeaker used in a radio receiver.

+10
normalised frequency response (dB)

–10

–20

–30

–40

–50

–60
10 20 40 60 100 200 400 600 1K 2K 4K 6K 10K
frequency (Hz)
Figure 1 Loudspeaker normalised frequency response for Question 10

(a) Outline the construction and operation of a typical loudspeaker.

(4 marks)
(b) Define what is meant by the cut-off frequency in a response such as this.
What are the cut-off frequencies, and hence what is (nominally) the
bandwidth of this loudspeaker’s response?
(4 marks)
(c) For frequencies well below 200 Hz (approximately G3), the output from the
loudspeaker is significantly reduced. Nevertheless, music heard on this
loudspeaker sounds at the right pitch. What psychoacoustic phenomenon
accounts for this effect? Discuss this effect and explain how the ear/brain
combination is able to determine correctly the pitch of notes that correspond
to frequencies well below 200 Hz when they are played through this
loudspeaker.
(6 marks)
(d) A small radio with the volume set to a low level is not able to produce a loud
sound. Nevertheless, when music is heard on this radio, it is possible to tell
that a singer or instrumentalist is performing loudly. Explain this
phenomenon.
(6 marks)

TA225/L 4
Question 11 (a) Describe briefly the construction of a modern violin bow. Include a sketch
(20 marks) and explain the significance of the concave shape of the bow.
(5 marks)
Figure 2(a)–(f) illustrates the motion of a bowed string, showing the shape of the
string at a number of different phase positions in the cycle. The sequence starts
at the time when the player has just used the bow to displace the string from its
rest position.

string

(a) (d)
bow hairs envelope

(b) (e)

(c) (f)
Figure 2 Bowed string motion for Question 11(b)

(b) Describe in detail what is happening at each stage during the cycle shown in
Figure 2. In your description, you should include the terms ‘restoring force’,
‘static friction’ (the force resisting motion between two surfaces that are
stationary relative to each other) and ‘dynamic friction’ (the force resisting
motion between two surfaces that are already moving relative to each
other).
(9 marks)
(c) What is the name for this type of bowed string motion?
(1 mark)
(d) Explain how the use of rosin helps to ensure that the motion shown in
Figure 2 is set up when the string is bowed.
(5 marks)

TURN OVER
TA225/L 5
Question 12 Figure 3 shows the first six normal modes of vibration of a circular membrane.
(20 marks) The shaded parts of the membrane show at a particular instant where the
membrane is moving up (say) and the unshaded parts where it is moving down.

mode 1 mode 2 mode 3

mode 4 mode 5 mode 6

Figure 3 Vibrational modes of a circular membrane for Question 12

(a) State the number of nodal circles and the number of nodal lines in:
(i) mode 3
(ii) mode 6.
(2 marks)
(b) Of the first six modes of vibration of a circular membrane, explain why it is
the second, third and fifth modes that are responsible for defining the long
term sound of a drum.
(3 marks)
(c) The ratios between the frequencies of the second, third and fifth modes of
vibration of an air-loaded circular membrane are 2.00:2.94:3.82. Bearing this
in mind, explain why striking an air-loaded circular membrane produces a
pitched note.
(3 marks)

Note, in the following parts (d) and (e) you may like to include diagrams to aid
your explanations (but diagrams without any explanation are not sufficient for
full marks).
(d) Outline the construction of a single pedal timpani drum. Include in your
answer an explanation of how the bowl makes the drum a more effective
radiator of sound.
(6 marks)
(e) Outline the construction of a bass drum and explain why it produces a sound
that does not have a definite sense of pitch.
(6 marks)

TA225/L 6
Question 13 (a) Vinyl long playing discs (LPs) can suffer from two effects when played –
(20 marks) wow and flutter.
(i) Describe briefly what these effects are.
(ii) For each one, give ONE reason that might cause the effect.
(4 marks)
(b) Table 2 lists analysis values of a recording from an analogue cassette tape
recorder obtained using the course’s sound editing software. From these
values determine:
(i) the signal-to-noise ratio and
(ii) the dynamic range
of the recording. Explain your answers and show any working.
Table 2 Data from the analogue tape recording in Question 13

Maximum Average Minimum

Loud sound level (dBu) –8 –9 –12
Background noise level (dBu) –42 –45 –46
(4 marks)
(c) In order for the compact cassette to compete with the vinyl LP, two
limitations needed to be overcome, namely poor frequency response and
limited signal-to-noise ratio.
(i) Describe the reasons for these two limitations.
(ii) Describe TWO technologies used to improve the quality of the sound
from a cassette recorder such that cassette tapes were able to compete
with vinyl LPs.
(4 marks)
(d) (i) Give TWO reasons why the ability to make copies of compact cassette
recordings using analogue cassette tape recorders was never seen as a
real threat to the recording industry.
(ii) Why do these two reasons no longer apply to making digital copies from
digital audio sources?
(iii) Outline the essential features and operation of the serial copy
management system (SCMS) that enables some control to be
influenced over the copying of digital recordings.
(8 marks)

[END OF QUESTION PAPER]

TA225/L 7