Guide To Mechanics 4th Edition Philip

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GUIDE TO MECHANICS
Consultant Editor: David A. Towers,
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Lancaster

Titles available:

Linear Algebra, D. Towers

Abstract Algebra, C. Whitehead
Numerical Analysis, J. Turner
Mathematical Modelling, D. Edwards & M. Harrison
Mathematical Methods, J. Gilbert
Analysis, F. Hart
 Guide to Mechanics

Philip Dyke
Head of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Polytechnic South West

and

Roger Whitworth
Head of Mathematics, Droitwich High School

M
MACMILLAN
© Philip Dyke & Roger Whitworth 1992
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or

transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road,
London W1P 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this

publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.

First published 1992 by

THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world

ISBN 978-1-349-11116-9 ISBN 978-1-349-11114-5 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-11114-5

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library.
To Ottilie and Tom
CONTENTS

Editor's foreword x

Preface xi

1 KINEMATICS 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Definition of kinematic quantities 1
1.3 One-dimensional models 4
1.4 Graphical representation 4
1.5 Calculus and rates of change 9
1.6 Constant acceleration 12
1.7 Conclusions from experimental data 15
1.8 Two- and three-dimensional models 19
1.9 Resolution of vectors 23
1.10 Two-dimensional parametric motion 24

2 FORCES AND NEWTON'S LAWS IN ONE DIMENSION 31

2.1 The nature of force 31
2.2 Newton's laws 34
2.3 Resistance and the particle model 42

3 FORCE AS A VECTOR 49
3.1 Modelling forces 49
3.2 Resolution 54
3.3 Resultant force 56
3.4 Equilibrium 57
3.5 Friction 59
3.6 Newton's laws in vector notation 64

4 USING ENERGY 71
4.1 Introduction 71
4.2 Work 71

vii
CONTENTS

4.3 Energy 76
4.4 Connected particles 89

5 COLLISIONS 93
5.1 Introduction 93
5.2 Impulse and momentum from Newton's laws 93
5.3 Collisions in the real world 100
5.4 Conservation of momentum via impulse for colliding
bodies 100
5.5 Newton's experimental law 103
5.6 Direct collision between a particle and a fixed
barrier 107
5.7 Oblique collision between a particle and a fixed
barrier 110
5.8 Oblique collision between two particles 114

6 MOTION UNDER GRAVITY IN ONE DIMENSION 119

6.1 Introduction 119
6.2 Motion with no resistance 119
6.3 Motion with resistance proportional to speed 124
6.4 Motion with resistance proportional to the square of
speed 130
6.5 Terminal velocity 134

7 PROJECTILES 142
7.1 Projectiles, motion in the real world 142
7.2 Independence of horizontal and vertical motions 142
7.3 Velocity as a vector 144
7.4 Assumptions for modelling projectile motion 144
7.5 Magnitude and direction of the velocity of a
projectile at a given instance 147
7.6 Discussing motion relative to horizontal and vertical
directions 148
7.7 The path of a projectile: the trajectory 152
7.8 Direction of travel and magnitude of velocity 155
7.9 Two trajectories 156
7.10 Envelope of trajectories 159
7.11 The motion of a projectile relative to an inclined
plane 161
7.12 Motion on an inclined plane referred to axes along
and perpendicular to the plane 163
7.13 The direction of travel at the point of impact of a
projectile with an inclined plane 168
7.14 Real problems with projectiles and inclined planes 170

viii
 CONTENTS

8 CIRCULAR MOTION 176

8.1 Introduction 176
8.2 Polar coordinates and angular displacement 176
8.3 Angular velocity and angular acceleration 177
8.4- Some observations of circular motion 178
8.5 Acceleration towards the centre of a circle of motion 180
8.6 The analysis of problems involving horizontal motion
in a circle 181
8.7 The conical pendulum 184
8.8 Modelling problems of motion in a vertical circle 188
8.9 Motion in a circle and connected particles 192
8.10 Vector methods and circular motion 196
8.11 Vector formulation for constant angular velocity 198
8.12 Vector formulation for non-constant angular velocity 199
8.13 Circular orbits 199
8.14 Angular velocity as a vector 200

9 VIBRATIONS 203
9.1 Introduction 203
9.2 Simple harmonic motion 204
9.3 Damped motion 215
9.4 Forced oscillations 219

10 VARIABLE MASS PROBLEMS 233

10.1 Introduction 233
10.2 Deriving the equations 234
10.3 Problems of a practical nature involving varying
mass 244

11 ROTATING AXES 256

11.1 Introduction 256
11.2 Preliminary notions of rotating frames 256
11.3 Rotating coordinate systems 259
11.4 The rotating Earth 272

Solutions to exercises 287

Index 291

ix
EDITOR'S FOREWORD

Wide concern has been expressed in tertiary education about the difficul-
ties experienced by students during their first year of an undergraduate
course containing a substantial component of mathematics. These difficul-
ties have a number of underlying causes, including the change of emphasis
from an algorithmic approach at school to a more rigorous and abstract
approach in undergraduate studies, the greater expectation of independent
study, and the increased pace at which material is presented. The books in
this series are intended to be sensitive to these problems.
Each book is a carefully selected, short, introductory text on a key area
of the first-year syllabus; the areas are complementary and largely self-
contained. Throughout, the pace of development is gentle, sympathetic
and carefully motivated. Clear and detailed explanations are provided, and
important concepts and results are stressed.
As mathematics is a practical subject which is best learned by doing it,
rather than watching or reading about someone else doing it, a particular
effort has been made to include a plentiful supply of worked examples,
together with appropriate exercises, ranging in difficulty from the straight-
forward to the challenging.
When one goes fellwalking, the most breathtaking views require some
expenditure of effort in order to gain access to them: nevertheless, the
peak is more likely to be reached if a gentle and interesting route is chosen.
The mathematical peaks attainable in these books are every bit as exhilar-
ating, the paths are as gentle as we could find, and the interest and
expectation are maintained throughout to prevent the spirits from flagging
on the journey.

Lancaster, 1987 David A. Towers

Consultant Editor

x
PREFACE

Many students in higher education will be experiencing courses in mechan-

ics for the first time or may have found the option of mechanics difficult
when it was studied as part of an A-level mathematics course. In recogni-
tion of these factors, this text progresses at a gentle pace and requires no
previous knowledge of mechanics. The approach adopted throughout is to
motivate particular areas of mechanics through the reflection of real-life
problems and practical activities. The amount of algebraic manipulation
required at any stage is kept to a minimum, which we feel will allow
students to work with the mechanics concepts with greater confidence. This
type of approach will go some way to accommodating the changes that
have occurred in the teaching of mathematics in schools in GCSE courses
and at A-level.
The number of students who have studied mechanics at school or in
further education has decreased in the past few years with the introduction
of other options at A-level. For those who have studied mechanics before,
we feel confident that the approach we have adopted will offer a refreshing
contrast to their experience of older texts.
In writing this book, we have had to take the decision to omit any study
of rigid body mechanics, so that the text would be short but still accommo-
date a range of courses in higher education. The course of study here is
based on particle mechanics, which we feel will establish a sound founda-
tion for the later study of rigid body mechanics.
As with other guides in this series, this text is suitable for self-study.
Answers to exercises are provided, as well as hints on how to solve the
more demanding problems.

P.D.&R.W.

xi
1 KINEMATICS

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The study of the motion of bodies requires a structured understanding of
the fundamental quantities of displacement and time. This study is called
kinematics and it will provide a basis for later modelling in other branches
of mechanics. From time and displacement, we derive the quantities
velocity and acceleration. All of these, with the exception of time, are
vector quantities and can be expressed in an algebraic vector form. Not
surprisingly, therefore, the study of vectors is crucial to the study of
kinematics and all mechanics.
We shall start our study by considering some kinematic quantities with
which you may already be familiar. Everyday language provides us with an
intuitive comprehension of these quantities, but in some cases can lead to
serious misunderstanding, particularly when considering vectors.
When a car is travelling along a road, and the speedometer reads an
unchanging 30 km per hour, the driver naturally assumes that the speed is
constant. The fact is that if the car is cornering, or going down or climbing
up a hill, it is accelerating despite the constant speed shown on the
speedometer. In the following section, we begin to establish the concepts
of displacement, velocity and acceleration. In particular, we clarify the
distinction between speed and velocity, often used as synonyms by non-
mathematicians, and the cause of the apparent contradiction of the acceler-
ating car with its constant speedometer reading.

1.2 DEFINITION OF KINEMATIC QUANTITIES

The following formal definitions of displacement, distance, velocity, speed

and acceleration should help us to make a start in overcoming the afore-
mentioned misconceptions.
Consider the fixed points P and Q, illustrated in Figure 1.1. The

1
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

Fig. 1.1

displacement from P to Q represented by the vector PQ = s is the

translation that is needed to move the point P to the point Q. The inverse
of this operation, the displacement from Q to P, is represented by the
vector QP. Thus:

QP = -PQ

The magnitude of the displacement from P to Q is the distance PQ and the

orientation of the line segment PQ is its direction. It follows, therefore,
that the displacement from Q to P has equal magnitude but that its
direction differs by Jt radians or 180 Displacement clearly satisfies the
0
•

requirements of a vector in having both magnitude and direction. Displace-

ment vectors must of course obey the law of vector addition. Thus, as
illustrated in Figure 1.2, the displacement PQ + QR is equivalent to the
displacement PR and so we can write:

PQ + QR = PR

R
Q

Fig. 1.2

The velocity, v, of a body is the rate of change of its displacement with

respect to time. Using the notation of calculus, we have that:

2
 KINEMATICS

dx
v=-
dt
As velocity depends on displacement, then velocity is a derived vector and
has a dependent magnitude and direction. The magnitude of velocity is
speed. Speed, a scalar, is thus not dependent on direction.
The acceleration, a, of a body is the rate of change of its velocity with
respect to time. Again, calculus notation gives:

Acceleration is derived from a vector so it must be a vector itself, possess-

ing both magnitude and direction.
Acceleration is the most difficult concept to appreciate intuitively. It can
be non-zero when the speed of a body is unchanged but the direction of
motion varies. There are numerous examples of motion with constant
speed but non-zero acceleration and some will be discussed in later
chapters. In Figure 1.3, which illustrates the process of cornering with
constant speed, the velocities of motion at points P and Q, which occur at a
one-second interval, are given as VI and V2 • Note that VI =F V2 •

B
v,

Fig. 1.3

Figure 1.3 also shows the vector triangle for V2 - VI' The triangle ABC
formed is isosceles as IVII = IvzI. The acceleration over the one-second
interval is V 2 - VI> the direction BC represents the direction of this
acceleration and the length BC is its magnitude, which is non-zero. Note
that the direction of the acceleration is not the same direction as VI or V2 •
Our first consideration will be the study of one-dimensional models of
motion. The understanding that is developed from this study can then be

3
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

easily rendered to two and three dimensions, using vector notation, with
the algebra unchanged. This is an important advantage of using vector
notation in mechanics.

1.3 ONE-DIMENSIONAL MODELS

The special case of motion in a straight line is a usual starting point for the
study of kinematics. Examples are the motion of a body falling vertically
under gravity or that of a particle attached to a spring lying on a smooth
horizontal table.
Although we still maintain our vector approach, we can see that all
quantities can be expressed as negative and positive values along the
direction of motion, the x-axis say, represented by the unit vector i. The
position vector r with respect to the origin, at time t, is:

r = x(t)i

The velocity vector is then:

dr dx. .
- = - 1 =XI
dt dt

The acceleration vector is similarly represented as:

It is usual for the vector formulation in terms of i to be omitted and for the
direction to be represented by a + or - sign. The following definitions will
apply: Given that the displacement of a body from the origin at time t is
x(t) in a given direction, then velocity, v, is x(t) and the acceleration, a, is
x(t) or v. (Note that, in one dimension, it is not necessary to use bold face
for vectors as there is no ambiguity.)

1.4 GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION

It is common practice to express one-dimensional motion in graphical

form. Consider the following simple example.
Two cars A and B are moving at constant speeds in the same direction
along parallel straight traffic lanes. Car A has a speed of 10 ms-1 • Car B has
a speed of 12 ms-1 and passes an observer 2 s after A. At what time and at

4
 KINEMATICS

x(m)
B
A

o~~~~~----~--~--~-- ..
5 15 t (5)

Fig. 1.4

what distance from the observer will car B overtake car A?

The solution of problems of this type shows the value of representing
journeys in a graphical form. For example, Figure 1.4 shows the journeys
for both A and B. The origin 0 (t = 0) is taken to be the point when A
passes the observer. The point of intersection of the two straight lines
represents the time and place when A and B meet. Accurate drawing of the
figure will lead to the correct solution; the time is 12 s after car A passes the
observer, and the distance is 120 m away from the observer.
This type of diagram, called a displacement-time graph, can be used to
determine timing and scheduling of events, and is thus valuable in creating
timetables. It provides direct pictorial representation of journeys and
events. It should be noted that the gradient of each curve, represented by
i, is the velocity, where negative gradients represent reverse motion. In
cases like the one shown in Figure 1.4, where the speed is constant, the
graphs are straight lines.
Mathematically, the velocity-time curve is a more rewarding graphical
representation of the journey of a body in a straight line. Consider the
following example of a train journey from Leicester to Nottingham, which
for our purposes has been divided into five parts A, B, C, D and E. The
motion can be assumed to be a straight line. Note that the gradient at any
point on these curves is a measure of the acceleration of the train at that
instant, and the area below the curve is the distance travelled.
The journey is represented by the velocity-time curve in Figure 1.5:

A: Starting from rest, the train travels with constant acceleration for
the first 10 minutes of the journey.
B: It then moves with constant velocity of 70 kmh-1 (that is, its acceler-
ation is zero) for 40 minutes.

5
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

8
O~--~------------------~--~--;-~r- ___
t(min)

Fig. 1.5

c: The train undergoes non-uniform acceleration for 5 minutes, reach-

ing a maximum speed of 100 kmh-1 •
D: Braking results in a constant retardation from its speed of 100 kmh-1
but this results in the train overshooting the station.
E: Having first come to rest, it then reverses into the station, achieving
a maximum reversing velocity of 10 kmh-1 • This time it comes to rest
at the platform.

The interpretation of this type of graph is not as easy as it was for

displacement-time graphs. You may find it helpful to consider other
journeys that you have experienced in the same way. A journey across a
busy town is clearly a highly complex version ofthis example. You will find
it constructive to try to develop a velocity-time graph for such a journey.
It should be noted that in velocity-time graphs the acceleration is
represented by the gradient of the curve. Negative gradients represent
retardations. Constant accelerations are represented by straight lines.

Example 1.4

A body moves along a straight line with an initial velocity of 5 ms-1 • It then
accelerates at 7 ms-2 for a certain period. For the next 10 s, it has a
retardation of 1 ms-2 • The total distance travelled during the motion is
450.0 m. Find the length of time for which the body has an acceleration of
7 ms-2 •

Solution Figure 1.6 shows a sketch of the velocity-time graph for the
completed journey. For the purpose of our analysis, the journey has been
divided into three parts A, Band C. The velocity at the end of A is u and at

6
 KINEMATICS

Fig. 1.6

the end of B is v. The times of the first and last periods of acceleration are t
and T respectively.
Using the fact that acceleration is represented by the gradient of the
curve, we can write:

u-5
7=-- for A
t
v-u
-4=-- for B
10
-v
-1 - - for C
T

Solution of these equations for u, v and T in terms of t gives:

u = 7t +5 v = T = 7t - 35

Using the fact that total distance travelled equals the area under the graph
for the completed journey, we obtain:
1 1 1
450.5 = l(u + 5)t + l(u + v)10 + lvT
Substituting for u and v gives:

o= 56t 2 - 340t + 24

and by factorising we see that:

o= 4(14t - 1)(t - 6)

7
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

The solution t = 1114 gives T < 0, so this can be disregarded. The time of
the initial acceleration is therefore 6 s.

EXERCISES 1.4
1 Describe, in words, the motion illustrated in the displacement-time
graph shown in Figure 1.7.

o~------------------~~~~ ..

Fig. 1.7

2 Figure 1.8 shows the velocity-time graphs for the motion of four
different bodies. Describe what might be happening in each case and,
for each one, sketch the corresponding displacement-time curve.

(a) v (b) v

o~-------------------- ..t o~----------------------

(e) v (d) v

Or-------~-------7--~~

Fig. 1.8

8
 KINEMATICS

3 A hovercraft crosses the English Channel, a distance of 52 km, in a time

of 40 minutes. It is capable of a top cruising speed of 80 kmh- 1 • Choose
the velocity-time curve from those shown in Figure 1.9 that best
illustrates the journey, explaining your choice and completing the scales
on both axes.

(a) (b)

Fig. 1.9

4 A tube train travels a distance of 432 m, starting and finishing at rest, in

1 minute. It first accelerates at 113 ms-2 , then travels with constant
velocity and finally retards at 1 ms-2 • Find the time taken in each of the
three stages of the journey.

5 Two cars start to move from a point on a road. Car A starts first, from rest,
and moves with a constant acceleration of 3 ms-2 • Two seconds later, car
B starts and maintains a uniform velocity of 16 ms-1 • Show that the cars
will be level twice and find the time during which car B leads car A.

1.5, CALCULUS AND RATES OF CHANGE

Let us consider the relationship:

dx
-= v
dt

where v is written as a function of t. To find x in terms of t, we simply

integrate both sides to give:

x = f vdt
Clearly, the indefinite integration here results in the introduction of an
arbitrary constant. This constant is evaluated by knowing the value of x for
some t.
If we require the distance travelled in the time interval a:::::: t:::::: b, we can

9
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

find this, its value being that of the definite integral:

f b

a
v dt

It should be noted that if v changes sign, the integral over the whole range
does not represent the actual distance travelled. The value of the area is
the distance, but the process of integration means that areas below the
t-axis are negative and will be subtracted from those areas above the t-axis.
A similar approach for:

dv
-= a
dt

where a, the acceleration, is a function of t, leads to a solution for velocity,

v, in terms of t given by:

v=fadt

Alternatively, considering a as a function of x, we can write:

dv dv
-=v-
dt dx

This gives a solution for the velocity, this time in terms of x, as:

~V2 = f a dx

Examples 1.5

1. The velocity, v, of a body moving along a straight line at time t is given

by:

v = 3t 2 - 2t +3
Find (a) the initial acceleration and (b) the displacement when t = 2 if
the displacement is 5 m when t = 1.

Solution d
(a) acceleration = ~ = 6t - 2
dt
When t = 0 the acceleration is - 2 ms-2 •

10
 KINEMATICS

(b) displacement =x = f v dt = t 3 - t2 + 3t + c (c = constant)

When t = 1, x = 5 and 5 = (1)3 - (1)2 + 3(1) + c. This gives

c = 3; so when t = 2 we have:

x = (2)3 - (2)2 + 3(2) + 3 = 11

The displacement is thus 11 m.

2. The acceleration of a block on a table when attached to a spring is given

by:

a=5-lOx

where x is the block's distance from the spring's fixed end (x = 0). If, at
the start of the motion, x = 0 and the velocity is then \/20 ms-1 , find the
distance of the block from the spring's fixed end when the block is first at
rest.

Solution As suggested, we express the acceleration as:

dv
v-=5 - lOx (1)
dx

Integration then gives:

1.2 v 2 = 5x - 5x 2 + c (c = constant) (2)

When x = 0, we are given that v = \/20, whence:

10 =0 - 0 + c or c = 10
When the block is at rest, v = O. Thus, equation (2) becomes:

o= 5x - 5x2 + 10
o= 5(x - 2) (x + 1)
The solution x = -1 is not feasible as the block must stay on one side of
the origin; hence, the block first comes to rest at x = 2 m.

11
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

EXERCISES 1.5

1 The acceleration, a ms-2 , of a particle moving in a straight line is

a = 7 - 2t, where t is the time in seconds. If the velocity, v, is 12 ms- I
when t = 2, then calculate:

(a) the time when a = 3 ms-2 ;

(b) v in terms of t;
(c) the maximum velocity;
(d) the distance travelled in the first second.

2 A body is x metres from a point after t seconds where x = r2. Find the
speed and acceleration of the body after 2 s.

3 A body starts from A and its displacement from A after a time t seconds
is given by x = 2t 3 - 5t 2 + 20t + 4. Find the acceleration when the
velocity of the body is 24 ms-I . What will be the body's displacement
from A when the velocity is 24 ms-I ?

4 The acceleration of a body is given by a = xV(4 - X2), where x

represents the body's displacement from its starting position O. If, at
the start of the body's motion, its velocity is 2 ms-I , find:

(a) v in terms of x;
(b) the distance of the body from 0 when at rest;
(c) the maximum velocity of the body.

1.6 CONSTANT ACCELERATION

Constant acceleration is a special case of motion. It rarely occurs in real
problems, as we will find when we look at resistance models in later
chapters. As a guide, it is best to consider acceleration to be non-constant,
unless we have evidence or justification to the contrary.
It is usual to derive three equations to model motion with constant
acceleration. A simple example of such motion with constant acceleration
is illustrated in the velocity-time graph in Figure 1.10. This allows us to
derive three constant acceleration formulae.
If the acceleration, a, has a constant value ao, then we have:

dv
-=a
dt °

12
 KINEMATICS

O~----------~-- ..
Fig. 1.10

Solution of this equation gives v = aot + c, where c is a constant. It is usual

to define the initial velocity as u. Thus, when t = 0, v = u, and this gives:

(3)

The displacement, s, is then given by a second integration as:

s = ut + za1 to 2 + constant
It is usual to take an origin such that the displacement, s, at time t = °is
zero to give:
1 2
s = ut + -aol (4)
2
(Note that s replaces the usual notation for displacement, x, in the constant
acceleration formulae.)
A third equation giving the velocity, v, as a function of displacement, s,
can be obtained by eliminating t from equations (3) and (4). The same
equation can also be derived using integration, by considering ao to be a
function of s:
1
ZV 2 = aos + constant
Together with the condition that v = u when s = 0, this gives:
(5)

Equations (3), (4) and (5) are usually termed the constant acceleration formulae.
The notation is standard, except that f is often used for acceleration.
All three equations can also be obtained easily from the geometry of the
velocity-time curve in Figure l.1O, as follows.

13
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

Using the fact that acceleration is the gradient of the velocity-time graph
gives:
v-u
ao = -t -

This is equation (3).

Using the fact that displacement is the area under the velocity-time
graph gives:
1
s = -(u + v)t
2
This is also obtained by eliminating ao between equations (3) and (5).

Example 1.6

The driver of a car is approaching a set of traffic lights. When he is 50 m

away from them and travelling with a speed of 72 kmh-1 , he notices they
are red. He immediately applies the brakes. If the maximum retardation
that his brakes can create is 1.5 ms-Z, can the car come to rest before it
arrives at the lights?

Solution The car comes to rest if its final velocity, v, is zero, and we shall
assume that the retardation is constant at -1.5 ms-1 . Given that the
acceleration is constant, we can apply equations (3), (4) and (5) with v = 0,
ao = -1.5 and u = 72 kmh- I or 20 ms- I to find s.
The equation that links these quantities is equation (4). Thus, inserting
the values for u, v and ao gives:
0= 202 + 2(-1.5)s
Hence, s = 133.3 m. Clearly, the car does not come to rest in time.

EXERCISES 1.6
1 The brakes of a train are able to produce a retardation of 1.5 ms-2 • The
train is approaching a station and is scheduled to stop at a platform
there. How far away from the station must the train apply its brakes if it
is travelling at 100 kmh- 1? If the brakes are applied 50 m beyond this
point, at what speed will the train enter the station?

2 A ball is projected vertically downwards and describes 100 m in the

14
 KINEMATICS

tenth second of its motion. Calculate its velocity of projection if its

acceleration can be assumed to be 10 ms-2 •

3 A train P sets off from a station A and travels directly towards a station
B, accelerating uniformly at 2 ms-2 • At the same time, a second train Q
is passing through station B, travelling towards station A, with uniform
speed 30 ms- 1 • After what time will the trains meet if the stations are
4 km apart?
The trains meet at C. Determine the acceleration required by Q at C
in order for it to arrive at station A at the same time that P arrives at
station B.

4 Two trains A and B are standing in a station on adjacent tracks ready to

leave in opposite directions. A man is sitting in train A opposite the
engine of train B. Both trains start to move: A accelerates uniformly to a
speed of 72 kmh-1 in 200 m; B accelerates uniformly to a speed of
54 kmh- 1 in 50 s. If the man notes that it takes 15 s before the end of
train B passes him, how long is train B?

5 A relay runner running at a speed u begins to slow down at the constant

rate of a when approaching her team mate, who is at rest. Her team mate
sets off with acceleration b. What is the greatest distance that can separ-
ate them at the time the team mate starts if they are to exchange the baton?
(Assume that the two runners meet in order to exchange the baton.)

1.7 CONCLUSIONS FROM EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Experimentation allows us to test the mathematical models we use in
mechanics against what can be expected in practice. This process is called
validation. Involvement in experimental work is an integral part of the
study of kinematics. It allows models to assume greater purpose. The
following example is an experimental test for uniform acceleration.

Example 1.7

The following table gives the results obtained from an experiment. Here s
represents the vertical distance upwards from the observer, in metres, of a
body after a time t in seconds.

o 1 2 3 4
s 2.0 3.5 4.0 -2.5 -22.0

15
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

Is this data consistent with uniform acceleration?

Solution If we look at the results graphically, we obtain the displace-

ment-time graph shown in Figure 1. l1(a). Estimating gradients at the
times given leads to the velocity-time graph shown in Figure 1.11(b).

(a) 5 (b) v

10
5

Fig. 1.11

It appears clear from our estimates that the data is the result of uniform
acceleration. Estimation of the acceleration from the velocity-time graph
confirms this.
An alternative approach to this same problem is to assume that the data
is a result of uniform acceleration and to seek a contradiction. We write:

where So, u and a are constants that must be determined from the data. The
fact that So = 2.0 follows immediately from the value of s at t = 0 and
we are then required to find unique solutions for u and a from the other
values. This results in our solving simultaneous equations in unknowns.
Note that at least four sets of values of sand t are required to confirm
constant acceleration for this particular time interval.
It is possible to adopt a similar approach when the experimental data
consists of pairs of values of the velocity, v, and the distance, s, from the
observer.
In the following table, we have used our estimate of the gradients of the
graph in Figure 1.12(a) to determine the acceleration using the relation:

16
 KINEMATICS

(a) v

OL------------2-------3------4------5--.S.

(b) v2

0
3 4 5 S

Fig. 1.12

dv
a = v--
ds

s 1 2 3 4 5
v 3.61 3.16 2.65 2.00 1.00
dv
-0.42 -0.47 -0.57 -0.75 -1.50
dt
a -1.5 -1.5 -1.5 -1.5 -1.5

To a degree of accuracy of one decimal place, this appears to confirm that

the data is consistent with constant acceleration.

17
GUIDE TO MECHANICS

Alternatively, as before, if we are able to assume uniform acceleration

so that equation (5):

is valid, then tabulating values of v 2 and s as in the following table should

give a straight line.

s 1 2 3 4 5
v2 13.0 9.99 7.02 4.00 1.00

The resulting graph of v2 against s is shown in Figure 1. 12(b). We see that

the graph indeed shows a linear relationship of v2 against s, which confirms
our assumption that the motion is due to uniform acceleration. It cuts the
vertical axis at u2 and its gradient is 2a. This allows the values of a and u to
be determined directly.

EXERCISES 1.7
1 The motion of two particles is described in the following table. Each
particle starts from the origin, 0, at time t = O. The symbol s represents
the displacement in metres from 0, v the velocity in ms- 1 and t the time
in seconds.

Particle 1 Particle 2
v -2.5 -2 -1 1 s 7 15 15 7
1 2 4 8 1 357

Confirm that each particle is moving with constant acceleration and

determine the acceleration and initial velocity of both particles.

2 A car starts from rest and covers s metres in t seconds. The following
table represents the motion of the car for the first 8 s.

t 1 2 3 4 5 678
s 4 11 21 34 50 69 91 116

Plot the displacement-time graph and from it plot the velocity-time

graph for values of t as described in the table. Is the data consistent with
constant acceleration?

18
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 Multi-and Poly-Rhythms

Rhythm also reflects this age of unrest, and there have been
decided changes which seem to return to the Middle Ages to the
period of bar-less music writing. Instead of finding a piece written
throughout in ¾ metre or ⁴⁄₄, it will be multi-rhythmic or poly-
rhythmic. Multi-rhythmic means many shiftings from one rhythm to
another; poly-rhythmic means a counterpoint of different rhythms
all played at the same time. The English composer, Cyril Scott, uses
multi-rhythms (where almost every measure changes its metre), and
the French Florent Schmitt uses poly-rhythms, (for example, triplets
against eighth notes in common time in the right hand, and ⁶⁄₈ metre
in the left).
In the 15th and 16th centuries every one wrote motets, masses and
madrigals; in the 17th century every one wrote suites and from this
time on, opera; in the 18th, sonata form; in the 19th, sonatas and
short romantic pieces. In the 20th century, no one form is used more
than another, but all forms are undergoing changes as the composers
reach out for freedom. This is the day of the large orchestra and of
the small chamber music groups; symphonies have been replaced by
the shorter symphonic poem, the tendency being for short forms.
The four-hour music drama has given way to the one-act operas, and
the dance drama or ballet as the Russian Diaghilev introduced it, is a
20th century development. The orchestral writing has changed
greatly from the methods of Berlioz, Wagner and Strauss, for while
they were masters of large mass effects, the composers of today are
treating each instrument individually, in other words, they are using
orchestration, poly-instrumentally! In chamber music, we have the
string quartet, but in addition, many experiments are being made in
combining instruments of unrelated families, like strings, wind,
brass and percussion, as we find in Stravinsky’s chamber music.
It is often said that modern music has no melody, but it would be
more correct to say that it has new melody, resulting from the
attempt to push aside old forms, old harmonies, old rhythms; now
we have arrived at a new era of polyphony, abounding in dissonance,
that often is cacophonous rather than harmonious. We call this
period the Polyformic era.
 Another Renaissance

The men who ushered in this Polyformic era were Claude

Debussy in Paris, Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, and Alexander
Scriabin in Russia. Richard Strauss, then at his height, is a good
example of the overlapping of two periods, for he represents the
classical German school of the 19th century, and has also pointed the
way to the future. Igor Stravinsky, although younger, is one of the
strongest factors in this new Renaissance which in scope and power
reminds us of the rebirth of learning in the Middle Ages.
Another cause for the breaking away from old forms and
conditions was the World War, which cut off the composers from the
usual sources of musical supply, and forced them to develop their
own ideas. This led to new groups arising in all parts of the world,
who, rebelling against restraint, put wild experiments in the place of
time honored customs.
 Claude Achille Debussy

Although Claude Achille Debussy (1862–1918) was almost forty

when the 20th century came in, only in this century has his work
been known and imitated. He was the direct outcome of a movement
in France, after the Franco-Prussian War to develop French music
along the lines started by Rameau and Couperin. This meant
breaking away from the classic models of Beethoven and the
dramatic music of Wagner. He exchanged the romantic style of
Schumann and Chopin for a new impressionistic style.
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. He
attended the Paris Conservatory when he was eleven and studied
with Marmontel, Lavignac and Guiraud. In 1884, with a cantata,
L’Enfant Prodigue, he won the Prix de Rome which has started the
career of so many French composers! During this, his first period, he
wrote many lovely songs to poems by Verlaine and Baudelaire, the
same impressionistic poets who inspired Charles Martin Loeffler in
America; Suite Bergamasque, which includes the lovely Clair de
Lune (Moonlight); the work which first brought him fame, L’Après-
midi d’un Faune (Afternoon of a Faun); the beautiful string quartet;
Chansons de Bilitis; Three Nocturnes for Orchestra, and the unique
opera Pelleas and Melisande, which took him ten years to write! It
was first given in the Paris Opéra Comique (1902).
In this opera, Debussy showed himself an innovator; it was a new
kind of harmony and melody and never before had an opera like it
been written. He gave an exact impression in music of Maeterlinck’s
imaginative, mystic play. This is not a case where music drowns the
meaning of the story but each word is colored and interpreted by the
music. Debussy accomplished what the Camerata, Gluck and Wagner
tried to do. By the time he wrote Pelleas and Melisande, his style was
established and the proof of his high attainment is seen in his many
imitators.
He worked very slowly and carefully and often destroyed what had
taken him hours to write. Although an innovator, he was a deep
student well grounded in the traditions of the past, a lover of Mozart
and of the 18th century French writers, and when he seemingly broke
all rules he gave something new in their place, not in the spirit of
experiment but of sincere conviction.
He was surrounded by painters who like Claude Monet, Pissarro
and Sisley did not paint actual things, but rather ideals of things;
and by poets who like Verlaine, Gustave Kahn, Henri de Régnier,
Pierre Louys and Stéphane Mallarmé did not write about things but
rather the impression and images things gave them. He was
absorbed and delighted by this non-photographic kind of art and
translated into his music the veiled, mystic, idealistic, silver
glimmering impressions that others put into paint and into words.
This is Impressionism in art.
Musically, Debussy was influenced by Wagner, although he fought
against him, and by some of the French composers in whose day he
began to write, like Chabrier and Chausson. From Moussorgsky and
other Russians he learned much about old modes, color effects and
free expression; and with Erik Satie he talked over many musical
problems, no doubt gaining much from this curious musical
caricaturist and humorist. No matter how extreme and absurd
Debussy’s music might have sounded twenty-five years ago to the
people, they must have felt the mystic beauty and rare poetic charm
of his work.
Someone, as a joke, put a Butterick pattern on a playerpiano roll as
a music record, and it sounded so ridiculous that a composer hearing
it, said: “Ah, that must be a Debussy piece!” But, you see this was
twenty-five years ago!
No matter how revolutionary his piano pieces may have sounded,
today they have become almost classics! The combination of poetic
imagination, romanticism and impressionism are seen in the titles:
Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the Water), L’Isle joyeuse (Happy
Island), La Cathédrale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral), Jardins
sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain).
For his daughter Claude, who died the year after her father,
Debussy wrote six little piano pieces called the Children’s Corner. At
the time he was writing them, little Claude used to drag the
manuscripts around like a ragdoll, telling anyone she met, “These are
my pieces, my father is writing them for me.” They were: Dr. Gradus
ad Parnassum, Jimbo’s Lullaby, The Doll’s Serenade, The Snow
Falls, The Little Shepherd and Golliwogg’s Cakewalk.
 Among his later works are: Three symphonic sketches, La Mer
(The Sea); the mystery play on a book by d’Annunzio, Le Martyre de
St. Sebastien (The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian); a work for two
pianos, Noir et Blanc (Black and White); a Sonata for Violoncello
and Piano and twelve Studies for Piano.
In his Minstrels, Children’s Corner and General Lavine we find
humor, a characteristic of 20th century music.
His music was vague and dreamy, and many composers were
weakened rather than strengthened by trying to imitate him, for they
had neither his genius nor his poetry. What he gave us was genuine,
what others tried to copy was affected. His inventions such as the
whole-tone scale and the pastel shades of music were so much a part
of him that to use them today shows a lack of originality. But to those
coming after him, who did not imitate him but worked out their own
ways, he was a path-breaker of great value.
 Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel (1875) has lived in or near Paris most of his life,
although he was born in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées. He was a student
at the Conservatory under Gabriel Fauré and André Gédalge. He did
not receive the Prix de Rome, perhaps because in his early works he
already showed tendencies, which must have seemed revolutionary
to musicians who had not yet grown accustomed to the innovations
of Debussy. Ravel developed his ideas at the same time and under
the same influences as Debussy. You will often hear that Ravel
imitated Debussy, but it is less an imitation than a development
along the same lines. Ravel, too, is an impressionist, a poet, a lover of
veiled mystic effects, suggesting images rather than reproducing
them. He has a keen rhythmic sense, perhaps a heritage of his
birthplace, so close to the Spanish border.
None of the 20th century composers understands the orchestra
better than Ravel as may be seen in his ballet Daphnis and Chloe,
Rhapsodie Espagnole, his delightful Mother Goose and La Valse. His
short opera, L’heure espagnole is full of charming music and
splendid workmanship; his quartet written in 1902–3 is one of the
finest examples of 20th century chamber music. For piano he has
added a rich contribution in the Sonatina, Pavane for a Dead Child,
Valses nobles et sentimentales, Les Miroirs (Looking Glasses),
Gaspard de la Nuit, Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Tomb of
Couperin), and his songs are very beautiful, including Histoires
Naturelles (Natural History) and the Greek and Hebrew folk songs.
Ravel’s latest work is a revelation of all his abilities, L’Enfant et les
Sortilèges (The Child’s Sorceries), a ballet in early form with modern
music. It is a fantasy tale about a little boy, who will not do his
lessons and in a fury injures a squirrel; the chairs, grandfather’s
clock, frogs, fairies, sprites, squirrels, arithmetic dwarfs from the
book he has destroyed, and tea-pots rebel and talk “at him,” until he
binds up the wound of the squirrel. Into this, Ravel puts humor and
even sentiment; he makes some of the chairs dance a minuet, other
characters, a fox trot, and includes many old and new dances. He
shows his magic handling of the orchestra and with extreme
cleverness he even has the chair and the shepherdess sing a song in
canon form and at the end all join in singing a fugue of “heavenly
beauty.”
A follower of Ravel is Maurice Delage, who has written some very
interesting songs and an orchestral work in which he is modern
enough to imitate the sounds of an iron foundry!
An enthusiastic follower and friend of Ravel, is Roland Manuel,
critic, writer and composer. He has never written what is called ultra
(very) modern music, but everything he does, songs, chamber music,
operetta, or ballet is marked with good taste, refinement and fine
musicianship.
Other Frenchmen who have added to the 20th century style are
Paul Dukas (1865), whose opera based on Maeterlinck’s Ariane et
Barbe Bleue (Ariadne and Blue Beard) is second only to Debussy’s
Pelleas et Melisande; Vincent d’Indy (1851); Déodat de Sévérac
(1873–1921), a writer of charming piano music whose impressionism
reflects his love of Nature; Albert Roussel (1869), a pupil of the
Schola Cantorum, whose Symphony and opera Padmavati show
splendid talent; Florent Schmitt (1870) whose orchestral works and
piano quintet are important; André Caplet (1880–1925), Charles
Koechlin (1867), and Erik Satie (1869–1925).
 Erik Satie—Cartoonist

Erik Satie is a riddle! Many are the heated discussions he has

caused. His influence has been through what he has said, not what he
has done. He was a caricaturist rather than a great composer, giving
amusing titles to frivolous little pieces that show humor, in which
one never knows whether he was laughing at or with the world. He
loved short disconnected pieces and did much to make the young
composer break away from long symphonic forms. He was a friend of
Debussy, godfather to the Group of Six, and later to four
“youngsters” who call themselves the “School of Arcueil” where Satie
lived. His name should have been Satyr for with his pointed ears,
eyebrows, and beard, he looked the part! Among his compositions
are the ballets, Parades and Relache, and a dramatic aria with
orchestra, Socrates.
The School of Arcueil, which has not yet proven its value is
composed of Sauguet, Maxime Jacob, Desormières and Clicquet-
Pleyel, who take pleasure in American jazz effects and have tried
amusing experiments.
 The Group of Six

The World War reacted directly and indirectly upon a group of

composers in France. Daring and brutality are the keynote of almost
all the works of the years from 1914 to the present day. Debussy and
Ravel with their poetic imagery did not express the feelings of the
younger men, so they were pitilessly brushed aside by Les Jeunes
(The Young) who overthrew the accepted forms for their own
experiments.
These young composers did not band together like the “Russian
Five,” but a French critic called them “The Six,” and the name stuck!
They were not united by oneness of purpose or by ideal, they just
happened to be friends and their music was often presented on the
same programs and Erik Satie “who had been throughout thirty-five
years the instigator of all audacity, the manager of all impudence”
was their confidential adviser. The six are Germaine Tailleferre who
played her piano concerto in America (1925) and has written two
charming ballets; Louis Durey (1888); Georges Auric (1899), and
François Poulenc (1899), both of whom have written ballets; Darius
Milhaud (1892) and Arthur Honegger (1892).
Of these, Milhaud and Honegger are by far the most important.
Milhaud has written ballets, chamber music and orchestral works
with great fluency, often showing fine gifts and flashes of beauty.
Born into this age of storm and stress, Milhaud has written brutally,
but he is at heart a romantic composer and will probably change as
we get further away from the war.
Honegger has had a sensational success with a work in oratorio
form, Le Roi David (King David), and with a tone poem, Pacific—
231, which is a type of locomotive. Honegger has broken from the
Group, and has gone his own independent way, writing beautiful
songs, orchestral and chamber music, and giving promise of being
one of the most important composers of the period.
There are many other young French composers showing the
different tendencies of the day, some are writing in classic form,
some in romantic, but all are very independent. Some have wiped out
the past and are trying to build anew, not realizing that they are
building on sand, for there can be no skyscraper without a
foundation deep enough to carry it!
 Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Nicolai Scriabin (1871–1915) was born in Moscow,

Russia, and was sent to a military school; instead of becoming an
army officer, he turned to music, and was a pupil of Safonov, for
several years conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
and of Taneiev. His early works show the influence of Chopin and
Arensky, but he soon developed a style of his own, that has made him
one of the important composers of the beginning of the 20th century.
An English writer, Eaglefield Hull, thinks that “the sonatas of
Scriabin are destined in the future to occupy a niche of their own,
together with the forty-eight Preludes of Bach, the thirty-two Sonatas
of Beethoven, and the piano works of Chopin.” To explain in a few
words the innovations of Scriabin would be impossible, but he broke
away from fixed scales and tonality, and opened new roads to
composers following. He used neither polytonality nor atonality,
although his methods border on the latter. He built new chords, not
major and minor as we know them, but in intervals of fourths. Here
is a typical Scriabin chord which he used as we use a major triad (c-e-
g) as the center around which to build a composition:

Won’t you be surprised to hear that Scriabin went back to

Pythagoras and his theory of harmonics or overtones to get this
chord? He called these combinations “mystic chords” for he was a
student of Theosophy, and wanted to use music as a means to
express occult ideas. With this in mind, he wrote a tone-poem,
Prometheus, which, according to Scriabin’s directions, Modest
Altschuler played in New York with a color organ throwing colors on
a screen while the orchestra was playing the music. Two other of his
large works for orchestra Le Divin Poème and Le Poème de L’Extase
show his extraordinary harmonic originality.
 Besides the ten sonatas in very free form, he wrote hundreds of
shorter piano pieces, disclosing his deep poetic, mystic nature.
Composers have imitated him, but his music is so tagged with
Scriabin’s individuality that, like the whole-tone scale of Debussy,
imitation is easily detected.
 L’Enfant Terrible of Modern Music—Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky (1882) has influenced more young musicians than

any other living composer! He intended to become a lawyer, but
instead studied composition with Rimsky-Korsakov, and his early
works reflect his teacher. We never know how meeting someone may
change our course in life, and Stravinsky’s meeting with Serge
Diaghilev changed his!
Diaghilev, director of the Russian Ballet, recognized a gift in the
young Stravinsky, who was busy writing an opera from a fairy tale of
Hans Christian Andersen, The Nightingale. He commissioned him to
write a ballet on a fairy tale, L’Oiseau de Feu (The Fire Bird) which
was produced in Paris (1910) and brought Stravinsky instant fame.
The next year this was followed by the delightful Petrouchka. His
most famous score Le Sacre du Printemps (Rites of Spring) was
produced in Paris in 1913, causing a near-riot, as it was received with
hissing and catcalls by a public unprepared for its brutality, its
savage rhythm, and raucous dissonance.
In this work Stravinsky went back to primitive times when Russia
was pagan, and he explains, “Thus we see Russian peasants dancing
in the springtime, accompanying the rhythms by their gestures and
their feet.” An English critic Edwin Evans, sees behind the pagan
rite, “The marvelous power ... in all Nature to grow, to develop, and
to assume new forms.” (We have watched this happen in music.)
After Le Sacre du Printemps, Stravinsky wrote Les Noces a ballet
founded on pagan Russian marriage customs. In this work he has
used a chorus of voices and four pianos in place of an orchestra. He
finished the opera The Nightingale and in 1917 wrote an orchestral
poem based on the themes from the opera.
In the short ballet L’Histoire du Soldat (Story of the Soldier),
Stravinsky has used popular music of the fair, circus, music hall, not
folk music, and we find our jazz and tango in it, as also in his Piano
Rag Music and Ragtime for orchestra. His songs composed for the
most part to nonsense verses, are among the cleverest things he has
done.
 Stravinsky wrote a group of string quartet pieces in which he made
the violins sound like bells. This was not because he tried to imitate
bells but on the strings he uses the harmonics or overtones that are
heard in bells. This is one of the secrets of his unusual harmonies.
 Overtones

We hear so much about overtones and harmonics that perhaps we

can trace for you the growth of music along the path of Pythagoras’
theory, showing how we arrived at this era of dissonance.
 Harmonic Series

First men and women singing in unison produced music in

octaves, 1 and 2 of the harmonic series. Next came the centuries of
organum when the parts were sung in fifths and fourths, 2, 3, and 4
of the harmonic series. Then followed the centuries of the major triad
(c-e-g), 4, 5, and 6 of the harmonic series. When the 7th overtone in
the harmonic series appeared, we had the very important dominant
7th chord (c-e-g-b ♭ ), looked upon as outrageous heresy and
dissonance! It was years, even centuries, before it was admitted as a
respectable member of the family! The 9th harmonic forming the
dominant 9th chord (c-e-g-b♭-d) had the same hard row to hoe, and
is one of our modern chords. César Franck shocked the musicians by
opening his famous violin sonata with this chord! We can trace the
whole-tone scale of Debussy to the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th
overtones of the series, (b ♭ -c-d-e-f#). Scriabin’s “mystic chord” is
formed from the 8th, 11th, 7th, 10th, 14th, and 9th overtones (c-f#–
b ♭ -e-a-d). It is a short step now to polytonality and atonality, to
Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Milhaud, and Honegger.
You have seen the white ray of sunlight enter your window, which
upon a second glimpse divides into all the colors of the rainbow. In
other words, the white light is the fundamental tone, which is the
sum of all the other colors, much as any single tone is the sum of its
overtones, and it is with these overtones that our modern composers
are experimenting. Here we see that modern music is the result of
evolution (slow growth) and not revolution!
 Heart Music Disappears

Stravinsky, l’enfant terrible in music, the most daring composer of

a most daring period has thrown over all restraint! His music has no
heart quality, and so strongly is he influencing the younger men, that
“heart music” has gone out of style, a brusque, ugly music taking its
place, because the composers are afraid that to show sentiment
would be weakness! However, the high class music of today is trying
to express humor, activity and vigor, for which reason our jazz
appeals to Europeans. The War made Stravinsky the “man of the
hour” in music. He is the direct opposite of the refined, beauty-
worshipping Debussy and mystic Scriabin. The composers upset by
the devastating war, needed strong food, and they hungrily pounced
upon the morsels flung to them by Stravinsky, the ring-leader.
But withal, “the worm will turn” and already, those with ears to
hear, realize a change in the air, and they foretell a new classic period
made out of this hurly-burly of many forms, touched by the fairy
wand, “Things-that-Live”! And Stravinsky himself has turned.
After Stravinsky had written several ballets for his countryman,
Diaghilev, he turned his attention to chamber music, and wrote
works for small groups of wind instruments and a string quartet,
Concertino, and a concerto for piano and wind instruments, in which
he tried all sorts of experiments. He believes in absolute music, and
has written these without program, making the music express what
he has to say. Whether he has succeeded, must be laid before Judge
Time. He is supreme master of orchestration, and is largely
responsible for treating each instrument as though it were playing a
solo, which we described as poly-instrumentation. We should not
have enjoyed Stravinsky as a neighbor, for he begged, borrowed or
bought every kind of instrument and learned all their tricks by trying
them out himself.
We know very little of what is going on in Russia today, but Serge
Prokofiev, one of the younger Russian composers, has left his home
and lives in Paris where his works are often given. He has written
piano concertos, violin concertos, and the best we have heard from
his pen is a chorus with orchestral accompaniment, Sept, ils sont
Sept (Seven, they are seven). He has also written ballets and operas.
 A fellow-student with Serge Prokofiev in the Petrograd
conservatory was Nicolai Miaskovsky, now living in Moscow where
he heads the musical movement. His principal works are
symphonies, one of which was played in Paris by a countryman,
Lazare Saminsky, in June, 1925.
Another young composer whose piano sonatas have come out of
Russia is Samuel Feinberg. They are somewhat in the style of
Scriabin.
The two Tcherepnins, father and son, are living in Paris. The son,
Alexander, has written chamber music in 20th century style.
 Poland

In modern Poland, Karol Szymanowski (1883) has written

symphonies, chamber music, songs, piano sonatas and many other
piano pieces which reflect Polish national color and French
impressionism (See Page 520).
Lady Dean Paul, who writes under the name of Poldowski,
although living in London, is really a Pole. (Page 439.)
Tadeusz Iarecki, of New York City, recently received a prize in
Poland for writing the best composition by a native composer. This
same quartet took the first Berkshire Chamber Music Prize (1918)
and was published in New York by a society whose object is the
publication of American Chamber Music.
Alexander Tansman (1892) a young Pole has met with unusual
success in Paris, where he writes works for orchestra, chamber music
and ballet.