How do stringed instruments make sounds?

This episode explores how stringed instruments like harps and guitars produce sound, focusing on the physics of string vibrations and their effects on air to create sound waves.

1. Stringed instruments produce sound through the vibrations of strings, which create sound waves in the air.
2. The pitch of a sound is determined by the frequency of the vibrations; faster vibrations produce higher pitches.
3. The volume of the sound is influenced by the amplitude of the waves; larger amplitudes make louder sounds.
4. The construction and materials of an instrument significantly affect its sound quality and characteristics.
5. Different playing techniques (plucking, bowing) and instrument features (like body shape and the type of strings used) influence the sound produced.

1: Introduction and Setup

Molly and Mark encounter a chaotic workshop while searching for Molly. They introduce the episode's topic on stringed instruments. Mark Sanchez: "Let's take a look."

2: Exploring String Vibrations

Molly explains her "string theory" with Ellie by using a rubber band to demonstrate how vibrations create sound. Molly Bloom: "When it wiggles as it goes boing back and forth, the band pushes against the air around it."

3: Visiting the Instrument Petting Zoo

The hosts visit an instrument petting zoo where they interact with various stringed instruments and discuss how their shapes and materials affect sound production. Anna Goldfield: "Instruments have different shapes and are made of different things, all of which can change the sound they make."

4: Sound Wave Science

Further explanations of how sound waves work, including demonstrations with different instruments to illustrate concepts like pitch and volume. Molly Bloom: "Low sounds make waves that are long and far apart."

5: Mystery Sound and Conclusion

A fun segment where Ellie guesses mystery sounds, followed by a summary of what was learned about stringed instruments. Ellie: "It's like the sound of the rubber band is touching my ear through the air."

1. Explore various stringed instruments: Try different instruments to see how their construction affects sound.
2. Experiment with string vibrations: Use a rubber band to see firsthand how vibrations create sound.
3. Learn about sound waves: Dive deeper into how sound waves travel and affect what we hear.
4. Attend live music sessions: Experience the richness of sound from stringed instruments in different settings.
5. Start playing an instrument: Learning to play can deepen understanding of music and sound production.

Have you ever wondered why a guitar sounds different from a violin? Or why a banjo is twangy and a cello is mellow? Then this episode is for you!

People

Mark Sanchez, Molly Bloom, Ellie, Anna Goldfield

Companies

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Books

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Guest Name(s):

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Content Warnings:

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Mark Sanchez
Hello, it's me, Gangura, and I love Blazon universe. Support it and me, Gangador, by doing two things. First, dance, dance, dance.

And second. Go to brainson.org donate. Thank you.

Molly Bloom
Today's episode is sponsored by the new film if out in theaters on May 17. From writer and director John Krasinski comes the story of Bea, curious young girl with the power to see everyone's imaginary friends, or ifs, and her quest to reunite forgotten ifs with their kids. Audiences of all ages will know and love the cast, which includes the likes of Steve Carell, Maya Rudolph, and the late, great Lewis Gossett junior. After watching the trailer, I am so excited to see all the ways kids imagine their ifs. Celebrate the magic of imagination and take the whole family to the movies to see if.

Out in theaters on May 17. You're listening to brains on, where we're serious about being curious. Brains on is supported in part by a grant from the National Science foundation. Hey, Mark, here with Ellie. Hi, everyone.

Mark Sanchez
Normally it would be Molly and our wonderful co host, Ellie, who would start the show, but Ellie just arrived at brains on hq and Molly is nowhere to be found. Yeah, so we're going to find her. We already search all of her regular spots. We checked Molly's office, Sandin's wildflower garden, Molly's other office that she keeps specifically for snacks. Hey, Mark, what about this room?

Oh, that's the brains on workshop. Maybe Molly's working on a project. Let's take a look.

Ellie
Wow. Holy super sized spider webs. There are strings everywhere. All my tools are tied together. There's piano wire stretching from the ceiling to the floor, rubber bands on the chairs.

Mark Sanchez
Ellie, this is a little embarrassing. It's not usually like this. I like. My workspace is nice and tidy. Molly, are you in here?

Molly Bloom
Who's that? What time is it? Oh. Oh, gosh. It's time.

Late to meet Ellie in towards new bridge. Oh, Ellie, you're here with Mark. Hi. I'm so sorry. I've been doing some string theory research and I was up all night.

I took a really long nap under Mark's work table. And string theory? Like, from physics? What physics? No, no, no.

My string theory. It's the idea that you can make an instrument out of any kind of string. I'm close to a real breakthrough, but I will admit that string cheese has been a little tricky. Good thing we're talking about string instruments on the show today. Yeah, pretty convenient.

Let's go, Ellie. I just need to make a quick stop to grab a blueberry scone from my snack office. Wait. But all my tools are still tied together. And there's dental floss wrapped around all the cabinets.

Mark Sanchez
And Molly, did you eat all my string cheese? Gotta go. Bye. Mark.

Molly Bloom
You are listening to brains on from APM studios, I'm Molly Bloom, and I'm here with my co host, Ellie from Toronto, Canada. So glad you're here, Ellie. Hi. Me too. Molly, I think you might have some silly string in your hair.

Oh, yep, got it. Thank you so much. So, Ellie, you sent in a great question to us. Please remind us what it was. I wanted to know how stringed instruments make different sounds.

Excellent question. So what made you think of this question? I was playing my harp, and I noticed that some strings have more of a twangy rubber band sound, whereas some are more. Slightly more musical. Oh, interesting.

So you play the harp? Yes, I do. And you brought it with you today, right? Yes, I did. So, Ellie, can you play the string that you think sounds a little more rubber bandy?

Twangy.

And then can you play the one that you think sound more musical?

Hmm. So is it that the twangy one is a little higher? Is that why it sounds like that, do you think? I don't know. I just think it sounds more like a rubber band.

Okay, so can you just play a little bit of the harp for us? Just a song that you like to play? Sure.

Mmm. That's very beautiful. So, I mean, it's a gorgeous instrument, but what made you want to play the harp? My mama suggested it to me. I did some research on it.

Ellie
I thought it sounded really beautiful, and I thought it would be fun to try to play. And I've really enjoyed it. How long have you been playing it for? I'm pretty sure I started when I was eight. Okay, and how old are you now?

I am ten. Okay. It's been a couple years. That's amazing. It sounds so good.

Molly Bloom
I guess we should learn first a little bit how you get the harp to make different notes. So all along the harp there are different strings. Gotcha. Can you play the lowest note for me? And can you play the highest note?

Ooh, that's a big range. Are there exercises or warmups you do on the harp? Yes, there are. Could you play one of those for us?

Ooh, that's very soothing. I could listen to you do that all day. But I suppose we have an episode to tape, so I guess we'll stop for the time being. But maybe later you can play me some more.

Well, to really understand how incredible. The world of stringed instruments is. I think we need to start with what I like to call the wiggle wave. Ooh. Is that an interpretive dance, or are we waving hi to worms?

Ellie
Is it a worm dance party? That sounds fantastic, but I'm actually talking about stringed instruments making wiggles in the air. Like I always say, moving air around is the key to sound. Let me give you an example. Let's see.

Molly Bloom
Ooh. Okay, here's a rubber band. I'm gonna stretch it out between my two pointer fingers. Now, Ellie, grab one side of the rubber band and give it a little pull. Okay, so you heard that sound, right?

When you pulled back the rubber band and let it go, it moved back and forth really, really quickly in a wiggly wave motion. Here, let's try it again. Yeah, I can see the rubber band going up and down really fast. When it wiggles as it goes boing back and forth, the band pushes against the air around it, pushing it outward in the same wiggly wave pattern. Those wiggly vibrations push more air and on and on until those sound waves get to your ear and you hear.

Ellie
Its like the sound of the rubber band is touching my ear through the air. Yeah. And the bigger the sound waves are, the louder the sound. The smaller the waves are, the quieter the sound. Thats volume.

Okay, but what about different notes? Thats not the same as how loud or quiet a sound is, right? This note is different from this note. Even if they're the same volume, the two notes are different pitches. Pitch is whether a note sounds higher or lower.

Molly Bloom
Like these notes on the cello, they're low.

Low sounds make waves that are long and far apart.

Ellie
Whoa. That's super low. So those are some really wide waves. Higher sounds make waves that are much closer together. Yeah, like these high notes on a guitar.

How about a kazoo? Technically, a kazoo doesn't have strings, but will allow it. Wait. That's a great idea. Where's my string theory research book?

Molly Bloom
Add strings to kazoo. Fantastic. So instruments make sound by creating invisible waves in the air. The volume of the sound depends on how big or small the waves are. And the pitch is how close together.

Or far apart the waves are. Speaking of sound waves, we've got some very tricky ones coming your way. It's time for the mystery sound.

Are you ready for the mystery sound, Ellie? Yes. Here it is.

Whoa. What was that? What do you think? To me, it kind of sounds like someone's spinning a top or rolling a die on top of. Like a guitar.

Ooh. I love that. Yeah, I have no idea what this is, either, so I am stumped. Should we hear it again? Yes.

Okay.

What do you think now? Any new thoughts? Uh, I don't. I think I'm gonna stick to my original guess. Yeah, I think top is a great guess.

I'm very impressed with whoever spun that top, though. Cause it lasted forever. It did. It's a very good top spinner. All right, well, we will hear it again.

Get another chance to guess and hear the answer after the credits. So stick around. We love hearing from you. We love getting your questions, mystery sounds, and high fives. You're all so curious and smart.

And something that we find extra super duper delightful is when you send us your artwork inspired by the show. Maybe you want to draw a picture of my snack office or an instrument petting zoo. You can send us your drawings@brainson.org contact. And while you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions like this one. My question is, why do hot sauce make your nose run?

You can find answers to questions like these on the moment of, um podcast. It's a daily dose of facts and fun every weekday. You can find it wherever you listen to brains on. Just search for moment of um. So keep listening.

Mark Sanchez
Brains on universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. And since you're a fan of brains on, we know you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore. Entering brains on universe. Ooh, so many podcasts.

Molly Bloom
Brains on. Smash. Boom. Best forever ago. Picking up signal forever ago.

A history podcast starring joy nolo.

Anna Goldfield
Flir's gum was so sticky when the bubble popped. It was so hard to get off your skin, you'd have to scrub it. Off with harsh chemicals. Me loves sticky facts. Zorp signal down quick knead forever ago no.

Mark Sanchez
Search for forever ago wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Mark Sanchez, brainson resident taco lover and weird gadget inventor. Almost every brains on episode starts with you. You send us a question, and we build a show around your curiosity. But there's another way. You're at the heart of the brains on universe.

This is a public radio podcast, and you are the public. That means we rely on your donations to keep us going strong. Every donation makes a difference. Contribute any amount today@brainson.org. Donate.

Molly Bloom
Today'S episode is sponsored by Posh Peanut. Where did all the cool and cute kids clothes go? If you're having trouble finding something for your kid or your friends kid to wear that is both parent approved and kid approved. You need to check out posh peanut. Posh Peanut makes thoughtfully crafted, beautiful and stylish clothing for kids and families.

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Go to poshpanut.com brainson and use promo code brainson for 20% off your first order. That's poshpanut.com brainson. Promo code brains on.

Ellie
You're listening to brains on. I'm Ellie. And I'm Molly. And we've been talking about how stringed instruments make sounds. It starts when you pluck or strum or bow a string, which makes that.

Molly Bloom
String vibrate or wiggle those wiggles from the string, push on the air around it, and make that air wiggle too. That makes a sound wave which travels to our ears. And speaking of sound waves, we asked all of you to make some waves by creating the brains on theme song. Check it out.

Wow. Many thanks to Gavin Cooper Carter, Charlie, Asher, Mia, Caleb, Lucy, Eddie, Waylon and Roxy for those incredible renditions. I am in awe of your magical music minds. So good. I still hear them in my head.

Ellie
That's not coming from your head, it's coming from your pocket. Oh, it's my phone. And it's brains on producer Anna Goldfield. Hey, Anna, what's up? Hey, Molly.

Molly Bloom
Are you with Ellie? Uh huh. Yeah, Ellie's here with me and we're talking about stringed instruments. Why? I'm feeding the instruments at the petting zoo.

You wanna come by feeding time at the instrument petting zoo? Heck yeah. Well be right there. Come on, Ellie. Brains.

Brains. Brains. Here we are. Hey, Molly. Hi, Ellie.

Anna Goldfield
Im so glad youre here. Hang on, just let me wash my hands. Feeding the trombones always get so messy. Thats better. Welcome to the instrument petting zoo.

Ellie
Its just a room with lots and lots of instruments laying on the floor. Just instruments? These are my prized instrument herds. All free range, well trained and totally pampered. And when the herd and I heard you were going to be talking about stringed instruments, I wanted to show them off.

Molly Bloom
Anna Zooka Laylee won first prize at the fair last year. See it's got a blue ribbon on it. Wow. Ellie and I were just talking about how strings make sound waves in the. Air and how we hear the sound waves as notes.

Ellie
They can be higher or lower and louder or softer. But I still want to know why instruments sound different from one another. Thats a fantastic question. Another one of my string theories is that it depends on what you feed your instruments. A well fed instrument always sounds better.

Molly Bloom
Right, Anna? Ugh. Only the best diets of healthy whole notes for my little orchestra. But really, its all about how each instrument bounces those sound waves around. Instruments have different shapes and are made of different things.

Anna Goldfield
All of that can change the sound they make. Yeah. My harp and your guitar are really different shapes and sizes, and they make really different sounds. Exactly. Here, let me show you with my acoustic guitar.

Come here, baby. Yeah. So an acoustic guitar usually has six strings and a hollow body made out of wood. The strings start at the top of the neck. That's where you press down to make different notes.

And at the other end of the guitar, the strings are stretched over a thin piece of wood called a bridge that helps pass vibrations into the guitar. You can pluck the strings and it sounds like this, or you can strum them like this.

Ellie
And theres a hole right in the middle of the guitar underneath where youre strumming. Another one of my string theories is that strings make better sound waves if you complement them regularly. And also if the sound waves can bounce around a lot. And bouncing is exactly what's happening. When I play the strings, they vibrate throughout the guitar and through this round hole in the middle called the sound hole.

And then they keep bouncing off the walls inside the guitar. Yeah, it's kind of like when you yell into a tunnel, you know? I love to yell. Your voice makes sound waves that bounce around the tunnel and you hear the echoes all coming back on top of each other. So the inside of the guitar is like the inside of a tunnel, bouncing sound waves around?

Molly Bloom
Yes. And the sound waves come back out of the sound hole, making a bigger, rounder and fuller sound than just the strings twanging on their own. The shape of an instrument and the stuff its made from can totally change how those strings sound. How? Ill show you.

Anna Goldfield
How about we play a little guessing game? Ill play three of my beautiful instrument buddies for you. You can try to figure out which instruments are making the sounds, and then I'll tell you how their shape and how they're made influences the sound. Molly and Ellie, are you ready? Yeah.

Ellie
Yeah. Okay. Here's instrument number one.

Molly Bloom
Mmm. That was fun. What do you think, Ellie? I think that was the sound of maybe a banjo. Ooh.

Yeah. Kind of had that sound like someone strumming strings. Kind of like a guitar. It sounded like between a guitar and a banjo, but not really a ukulele. Yeah, I agree.

Okay. More of a country sound. More of a country sound. I'm gonna go with a tiny guitar. That's not a ukulele.

Are we? Right. So you were right on the money with your thought that maybe it was kind of country because this instrument is used in country and bluegrass music a lot. That was a mandolin. What's a mandolin, Anna?

Ellie
I've never heard of it before. Well, a mandolin is an instrument that's around the same size as a violin. So you can hold it pretty easily in one hand. And the body of it is kind of a teardrop shape. And it's got four notes, like a violin.

Anna Goldfield
It's tuned like a violin, but each note is played by two strings. So there are pairs of strings and it gives it that kind of full sound, that nice round sound that you heard. But it makes it really tricky to tune. All right. Will you please show us instrument number two?

Molly Bloom
Wow, that was deep. What do you think, Ellie? It sounded kind of like maybe like a cello. Good guess. I think it sounds even deeper than a cello.

Is it a bass? What is it called? Is it a bass? Like the one that stands upright like a really big cello? Yeah, you nailed it.

Anna Goldfield
It is an upright bass. So those were some big, big, wide sound waves because the notes were so low. So I want you to picture a violin with that kind of figure eight shape and the f shaped holes in the body and then the neck and the tuning pegs. And then I want you to imagine that that violin is 6ft tall because that's how big a string bass is. Whoa.

Ellie
That's very tall, for instance. All right, are you ready for instrument number three? Yep. Yes.

Molly Bloom
Hmm. What do you think, Ellie? I hear guitari sounds, but then again, I also hear, like, high pitched buzzing like a trumpet. Then I also hear metal clicking, so I don't really know. Yeah, those are really good observations.

I think I have an idea what it is. Okay. Is this an instrument from India? It is. Tell us what it is.

Anna Goldfield
That was the sound of a sitar. The sitar is a plucked string instrument. It's related to a lute and it's about 4ft long. And you play it sitting down with the body in your lap. The body is kind of a pearl shaped gourd.

And it's got a long, wide neck that you kind of hold up at an angle and play. And sitars can have between 18 and 21 strings, and that's because some of the strings are for plucking and some lined up underneath. The plucked strings are sympathetic. That doesn't mean they'll sit and listen to your problems. Sympathetic vibration is when a sound or other type of wave passes from one object to another.

So when the sitar player plucks the top strings that are stretched over these high, curved wooden bridges that hold them up off the body of the instrument, the sound waves also travel to the strings underneath, and those vibrate a little bit and that makes that twangy, echoey sound that you heard. Thats so cool. Thats amazing. Yeah. Sitar is fun.

Thank you both so much for playing with me. Thank you, Anna. That was so fun. And I think this proves my biggest string theory of all. Stringed instruments are wonderful because they make so many amazing sounds.

Molly Bloom
What a breakthrough. Maybe now I can finally make the string cheese harp I've been dreaming of. Where's my notebook?

Ellie
String instruments push air into wiggly sound waves, which travel to our ears. Loud sound waves are made up of big wiggly waves, and soft sounds are made up of smaller wiggly waves. The pitch of a sound is how high or low it is. And stringed instruments sound different from each other because of the different tools used to hit, pluck, or play them, plus. The size and shape of their bodies.

Molly Bloom
That's it for this episode of Brains. On this episode was written by Anna Goldfield. It was produced by Molly Bloom and Rosie Dupont. Our editors are San Anton and Shayla Farzan. Fact checking by Ruby Guthrie we had.

Engineering help from Gary O'Keefe, Derek Ramirez, Lucien Lozan, and Bill Walker, with sound design by Rachel Brees. Original theme music by Mark Sanchez. We had production help from the rest of the Brain zone universe team. Anna Goldfield, Nico Gonzalez Whistler, Lauren Humphert, Joshua Ray, Charlotte Traver, Anna Wegel, and Adaron Waldisalassie. Beth Perlman is our executive producer and the executives in charge of APM Studios.

Archandra Kavati and and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Jonathan and Diane Scarlett. Brainson is a nonprofit public radio program. There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brainson Universe on YouTube, where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes, or head to brainson.org dot.

Ellie
While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Speaking of mystery sounds, Ellie, are you ready to hear that sound again? Yep. Sweet.

Molly Bloom
Nice. Okay, what do we think? I'm still sticking to my original guess. The die or the top rolling or spinning on top of a guitar or a table. I love that guess.

I have no idea. So I'm gonna stick to your guess, too. Let's hear the answer. Hi, my name is Edgar from Ackroyce, Georgia, and that was the sound of my top spinning. Oh, my gosh.

Ellie, you did it. You got it right. How does that feel? Great. Awesome.

Have you spun tops before? You must have. Uh, yes, I have. Can you spin your tops as long as Edgar can? Cause that was pretty impressive.

Edgar. No. The tables in my house have, like, cracks on them for the wood as a design. So? So they always get stuck on them.

Okay, we need a better surface for you. Wow. Good guessing. Excellent ears.

Now it's time for the brains honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep this show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives. Baker from Bremerton, Washington. Sebastian from Inverary, Scotland. Kaden and hunter from Belgrade, Montana.

Aurora and Lottie from Charlotte, North Carolina. Anya from Newburgh, New York. Adina from Toronto. Jack from Mesa, Arizona. Peter from Windsor, Wisconsin.

Lily from Los Angeles. Orion from Portland, Oregon. Kai from Honolulu. Columbia. Cora and Jody from Sebastopol, California.

Faris from New York City. Adeline from Raleigh, North Carolina. Phoebe from Beijing. Abel from Moreno Valley, California. Frances and may from Kamloops, British Columbia.

Olive from Vancouver, Washington. Salome from Lebanon, New Jersey. Hazel from San Diego, California. Gabriel from Brooklyn, New York. Nico from Austin, Texas.

Axel from Winnipeg. Shoshana from Leander, Texas. Amelia from Waukee, Iowa. Junie from Queens, New York. Otis from Mill Valley, California.

Florence from Courtney, British Columbia. Hania from Louisville, Kentucky. Kit from Massachusetts. Levi and Owen from Santa Clara, California. Anson from San Marino, California.

Fred from Coppet, Switzerland. Grace from Ontario. Riley from Rochester, New York. Bebe from Baltimore Marcus and Everett from Dallas. Youssef from Cairo, Egypt.

Ray from England. Chloe, Evan and Caleb from Omaha. Dominic from Papillon, Nebraska. Elliot from Melbourne, Australia. Greenlee from Calgary.

Avery from walkie, Iowa. Decker from Northfield, Minnesota. Luke and Elijah from Cocoa Beach, Florida. Nirali from Delaware, Ohio. Alyssa from Oakville, Ontario.

Allie from Colorado. Savion, Kalief and Jerner from Oakland, California. Andrew from Pierce, Minnesota. Jocelyn from Moncton, New Brunswick. Titus from Sacramento.

Olive and Remy from Candler, North Carolina. Zara from San Francisco. June from Heidelberg, Germany. Miles from Alameda, California. Olin and Enzo from Missouri City, Texas.

Rosie from Austin, Texas, and Corbin from bury in Washington.

We'll be back next week with an episode all about vacuums. Thanks for listening. All over the country, we need to improve reading. In Wisconsin, schools are changing the way they teach reading. I'm calling for a renewed focus on literacy.

We have gotten this wrong in New. York and all across the nation, and it's happening because of a podcast. I think your podcast has changed my. Life, and I'm going to share this podcast with everyone I meet. Soul the story investigates how teaching kids to read went wrong.

Mark Sanchez
New episodes of sold a story are available now.