Syllabus
Essential Information
Lectures: Duane G1B30 Tu & Th 12:30-1:45 pm
Professor: John Price, john.price@colorado.edu
The course is taught with two lectures per week. Attendence at the lectures is essential and class participation will be included in the grading. There will be weekly on-line homework assignments, biweekly homelabs (lab exercises that you can do at home), a midterm and a final exam.
Course Goals
Physics 1240, Sound and Music, is an introductory course designed for non-science students. The primary goals are to understand 1) the basic physics of the rapid vibrations in air that we know as sound, 2) the quantitative description of sound properties such as intensity and frequency, 3) the special features of musical sounds, and 4) the generation of sound, especially by musical instruments. Secondary goals are to show how scientific knowledge is based on direct physical observations that can be verified by any observer possessed of adequate skills and equipment, and to explain through examples what is meant by a scientific theory.
Prerequisites
As preparation for the course, all students must have two units of high school algebra and one of geometry (in other words, you may not have a math MAPS deficiency).
Getting Help
Getting regular help is strongly correlated with success in this course. You can get valuable help from peers, from the professor, from the teaching assistant or from the learning assistants. Staff office hours in the Physics Help Room (Duane G2B90) are posted under the Home tab. The complete Help Room schedule is here.
Canvas
This course has a Canvas site. It will be used for completing your weekly homework assignments and to view homework solutions, to upload your homelab assignments and view homelab solutions, for clicker solutions, and for exam solutions. You will also use the Canvas site to check your grades.
Textbook
The textbook for this course is Principles of Musical Acoustics, by William Hartmann. Click here to download a copy (link only works on campus or with a VPN connection to campus). Always read sections of the text before we cover them in class. If you do, you’ll get more out of the classroom experience. The Calendar tab above shows which chapters will be covered each week. We will not cover all of the material in each chapter, but you should read the entire chapter.
Lectures and Class Participation
Lectures are Tu & Th 12:30-1:45 pm in Duane G1B30. Lecture notes will not be provided. However, an outline will be maintained (under the Lectures tab above) so that you can see what was covered in class each day. To help everyone stay engaged in the classroom, we will be using the CUClickers student response system. You must have a clicker and bring it to class every day. On each clicker question, you get one point for clicking and one point for giving the correct answer. We will start keeping track of clicker scores in the third week. You must register your clicker so we can associate the unique code programmed into your clicker with your name. The clicker questions used in class will be posted under the Lectures tab and answers to the clicker questions will be posted on the Canvas site.
Homework
There will be 13 weekly homework sets, due on Sundays at 10 pm. You will use Canvas to do the homework problems. It is very important to solve and understand every problem yourself. On the other hand, it is also important to take advantage of the many sources of help available in this course. Limit yourself to verbal help; do not take any written information from others and do not make written notes when you talk to others. This will ensure that you think about the problems independently after you get help. Solutions to the homeworks will be posted on the Canvas site.
No late homeworks will be accepted after solutions have been posted, and all of your homework scores will be included in your point total for the course. If some event prevents you from finishing work on time, contact Professor Price immediately by e-mail. Be sure that you go back and work any missed problems as soon as you can.
Homelabs
You could never learn to play the piano just by reading a book, or by solving homework problems on music theory. Similarly, you can't expect to appreciate a scientific subject without direct experience with the phenomena in question. This course will include biweekly lab experiments that you can do at home with materials we provide (like plastic tubes and guitar strings), other readily available materials (tape, pencils), and a computer. The homelabs will be due every other week at noon on Tuesday (before the first class of the week). You will complete your homelab assignments on paper and then upload a pdf file to Canvas. Late homelabs will not be accepted because the solutions will be posted when the assignments are due. Most of the labs will involve creating sounds and then recording and analyzing them using the program Raven Lite. You must have access to a computer or laptop with a microphone and with Raven Lite installed. For more information, see the Software tab above.
Grading
Your grade will be based 30% on the weekly homework, 20% on the homelabs, 10% on class participation, 15% on the midterm exam, and 25% on the final exam. Grades for all components of the course, including final grades, will be posted on the Canvas site.
Exams
The midterm exam will be in class on Tuesday, October 15. The final exam has been scheduled by the registrar for Sunday, Dec. 15, 4:30 - 7:00 pm. (It will not be possible to take the final exam earlier.) The problems on the midterm and final will be similar to those on the weekly homeworks, except that you won't be using Canvas to enter your answers. There will also be one or more problems on the midterm and final related to the homelabs. At both exams you will be allowed to have one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper with hand-written notes on both sides, and a calculator. To prepare for the exams, make sure that you can do all of the weekly homework problems with only your sheet of notes and a calculator, and that you understand the homelabs.
Disability Issues
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner (for exam accommodations provide your letter at least one week prior to the exam) so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact them at 303-492-8671, Center for Community N200, or see the Disability Services web site.
If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Medical Conditions: Injuries, Surgeries, and Illnesses guidelines under Quick Links at the Disability Services web site and discuss your needs with your professor.
Religious Observances
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. See the full policy here. Please contact me as soon as possible if you will miss a lecture, assignment, or exam due to a religious observance to arrange an appropriate remedy.
Classroom Behavior
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, disability, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See the policy Student Classroom and Course-Related Behavior here.
Honor Code
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. Incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Detailed information on the Honor Code can be found here. Honor Code violations are defined here.
Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working, and living environment. The University of Colorado does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and employment in, its educational programs and activities. (Regent Law, Article 10, amended 11/8/2001). CU-Boulder will not tolerate acts of discrimination or harassment based upon Protected Classes or related retaliation against or by any employee or student. For purposes of this CU-Boulder policy, "Protected Classes" refers to race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or veteran status. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against should contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC). Information about the OIEC, the above referenced policies, and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct can be found here.