Prominent physicist shows the science of music
By Dan Friend
Managing Editor
A renowned physicist collaborated with University of Indianapolis music students and faculty to explain the science of sound during a lecture on Oct. 25 in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall.
Dr. Uwe Hansen, former president of the Indiana Academy of Science and member of the Acoustical Society of America, presented a seminar entitled “Musical Acoustics: Science and Performance” to explain the relationship between the laws of physics and the aesthetics of music. Hansen retired from Indiana State University after 30 years of teaching and now serves as an adjunct professor at ISU.
“People don’t usually think of music as science,” Hansen said, “but there is an awful lot of science in music.”
Hansen started the event by stretching a spring across the width of the stage with Dr. Richard Ratliff, director for artistic initiatives and music professor, and demonstrating how moving one end of the spring transfers energy to the other and back again. He engaged the audience of 35 people by asking questions and showing the co
rrelation between the spring demonstration and the motion of sound waves.
Members of the UIndy music department showcased a variety of families of musical instruments including strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Before each performance, Hansen recorded a single note and showed the uniqueness of the sound waves through a screen-projected computer program. Selections ranged from a string quintet’s performance from the third movement of Franz Schubert’s “Quintet in C Major” to a jazz combo’s playing of Billy Stayhorn’s “Take the A Train.”
Ratliff said that it was both a first opportunity for some freshman performers to play in front of an audience in college and an opportunity to learn about the scientific aspects of sound. Ratliff performed a four-hands piano piece with Allegra Sorley, who is a senior in high school and daughter of Dr. Rebecca Sorley, associate professor of music and director of educational outreach.
“They were all enthusiastic about having a chance to play,” Ratliff said. “But when he said they would have to play their instrument in a microphone and show wave forms on the screen, they thought that was pretty cool.”
The seminar was just one of many on campus during Oct. 25-26, because the Indiana Academy of Science chose UIndy as the site for its fall meeting. Scientists from across the Midwest held lectures on fields from anthropology to zoology in Schwitzer, Lilly and Martin halls.
The events during the two-day conference were organized by Dr. John Langdon, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of anthropology, and Molly Schiel, adjunct professor. On Oct. 26, WFYI-TV, a public television station of Indianapolis, debuted the first of a three-part series focusing on the natural environment and landscape of Indiana. Langdon said that the conference brought together professionals from the sections of industrial and educational science and bridge the gap between high school and college education.
According to Hansen, the seminar provided an opportunity for members of the scientific community to reach the general public. He also conducted a physics lab for a group of high school students from Arsenal Tech High School on Oct. 25.
“Music is almost universal,” Hansen said. “And that is one of the reasons I have used music as a vehicle to introduce science to students in the classroom at an early age.”
