The physics of musical sound

Music is physics made beautiful. We study how instruments produce sound — from the pressure dynamics inside a clarinet mouthpiece to standing waves in organ flue pipes — connecting rigorous measurement to musical experience.

Active projects

Clarinet acoustics — playing frequency prediction and mouthpiece pressure analysis

Active

We study the physics of clarinet sound production — from computational prediction of playing frequencies to real-time measurement of mouthpiece pressure during performance. This work connects classical acoustics theory to data collected from real players.

Mouthpiece pressure sensorsMATLAB modelingComputational simulation

Automatic detection of articulation and legato transitions

Active

Using machine learning and signal processing to automatically identify tongued and slurred note transitions in clarinet and other wind instrument recordings. A collaboration connecting acoustics, music performance, and data science.

ML classificationSignal processingAudio feature extraction

Organ flue pipe acoustics and end correction modeling

Past

Measuring acoustic standing wave behavior inside organ flue pipes and comparing classical vs. empirical end correction models using spatial pressure data. Recent work published in Acta Acustica with undergraduate co-authors.

Spatial pressure measurementStanding wave analysisEnd correction modeling

Flow visualization inside musical instruments

Past

Using speckle imaging (TESPI) to visualize airflow inside and around open pipes and wind instruments — making the invisible physics of sound production visible.

TESPI speckle imagingFlow visualizationCollaboration with Rollins Physics