PHYS 1240: Sound and Music

Fall 2020

                Instructor: Mihaly Horanyi                                   Time: Tu/Th 12:45 pm-2 pm

                Email: horanyi@colorado.edu                                    
                Class meets online via Zoom:
                https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMqc-qrqjgvHNyyXigVxYSa2A0f1bet8Wlk

                This link might change during the semester, please check the Canvas Announcements.
               

                Course Webpage: https://canvas.colorado.edu/courses/64508             

Course Overview:

Physics 1240 (Sound and Music) is an introductory level 3-credit course designed for non-science students to explore the science of common phenomena in a way that grows both their understanding of the science and their appreciation of the world we inhabit. The goals of the course are as follows:

1. Gain a physical intuition for how sound works, including how it can be generated (instruments, speaking, synthesizers, etc.), transmitted (wave dynamics, room acoustics, etc.), and received (human ears, microphones, psychoacoustics, etc.)
2. Understand the quantitative description of sound properties such as intensity and frequency,
3. Explore how individual sounds can combine to form what we call music
4. Learn 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.
5. Discover how using science to understand how the world works enhances the enjoyment of a performance.

The course consists of lectures interspersed with clicker questions, collaborative assignments, tutorials, science demos, and music demos, including student performances (optional and for extra credit). In addition, there will be two weekly on-line Homework and, approximately every other week, a Home Lab.  Assignment, a Midterm Exam held in class and a Final Project.

The course is taught by physics Professor Mihaly Horanyi (horanyi@colorado.edu).
He is joined by the other members of the Physics 1240 teaching team:

Teaching Assistant (TA)
Tyler McMaken (Tyler.Mcmaken@colorado.edu) a graduate student and lecturer in the Department of Physics with degrees in both physics and music.

There are three senior undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs)

Lisa Leibfried (lule8706@colorado.edu)

Conrad Meyer-Reed (come6994@colorado.edu )

Kyra Moran (kymo6990@colorado.edu)

The team is large to provide lots of opportunities for students to interact with the learning team inside and outside of the classroom (and class participation is essential for success in this course).

 Canvas

It will be used for completing your homework assignments, view homework solutions, to upload your homelab assignments and view homelab solutions, for clicker and for exam solutions. You will also use the Canvas site to check your grades. The recorded lectures and all the announcements will be posted on Canvas. 

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 plan to do the reading assigned for the week before the classes for that week. If you do, you’ll get more out of the classroom experience. We will not cover all of the material in each chapter, but you should read the entire chapter, and we will discuss additional material not covered in this book.

Prerequisites

Though no prior college courses are required for enrollment in this 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). High school math will be used regularly, but the course will not use or develop any higher mathematics.

Course Materials:

To help everyone stay engaged in the classroom, we will be using the CUClickers Reef online student response system. Other necessary materials for this course include a calculator capable of computing logarithms, sines, and cosines (used for exams, homework assignments, and in-class participation), a recording device (phones or laptop microphones do just fine), and access to a sound analyzing software.

Homework

There will be ~ 20 short homework sets assigned after each class in the form of Canvas quiz. The last ~ 15 minutes of each class will be available to work on these problems as a group. You can also solve them independently. These will be due before the following class.

Homelabs

This course will include lab experiments that you can do at home with readily available materials (tape, pencils), and a computer. The homelabs will be due as scheduled at 11:59 pm on Mondays (before the first class of the week). You will complete your homelab assignments on paper and then upload a pdf file to a Canvas dropbox. Several of the labs will involve creating sounds and then recording and analyzing them using the program Raven Lite (you will learn about this in homelab 1). You must have access to a computer or laptop with a microphone and with Raven Lite installed.  

Late policy:

All assignments may be submitted at any point after their due dates until the last day of class, with a at 50% deduction. Exceptions may be granted if extenuating circumstances are brought to the instructor before the assignment is due (full credit is rarely given for after-the-fact excuses).

Grading:

Assignment	Percentage of final grade	Due date
Clicker questions	5%	in class
Homework	30%	2x per week
Homelab (intermittent)	25%	Mondays
Midterm exam	15%	October    15
Final project	25%	December 12

 

Final grades will be assigned using the standard CU grading scheme, though this scheme may be slightly shifted at the instructor’s discretion. Such a shift, if applied, would only make final letter grades more favorable to students.

 

Incompletes:

Rules of the University require that grades of incomplete (I) may be assigned only if “for reasons beyond the student’s control, the student is unable to complete the course requirements.” “I” requests must be made in person to the instructor.

Virtual instruction mode:

Lectures for PHYS 1240 will be given live on the video conferencing platform Zoom (information about setting    up Zoom can be found here), and all students are encouraged to attend synchronously and engage actively during lectures. However, if you are not able to attend synchronously, you will not be penalized in the slightest—lectures will be recorded and posted on Canvas for asynchronous viewing, and all time-sensitive assignments and exams may be completed at any point within a 24-hour time frame. 

Zoom security:

Zoom-bombing is an unfortunate side-effect of virtual learning, but we will make every effort to make sure we can learn together in a safe, distraction-free,  yet accessible environment.  To ensure this, make sure you are logged into Zoom with your CU email account and that your Zoom name matches your own. In addition, the link for the Zoom meetings will only be shared with registered students, and under no circumstances should you share this information with anyone not registered for the class.  Any student who disregards these guidelines   or who themselves chooses to disrupt class will be dealt with appropriately. Should we have security issues, the Zoom link could be changed on a short notice. In that case we will announce the new link in Canvas and an e-mail.

Zoom etiquette:

Learning in a virtual classroom is much different from participating in person.  It is much easier to get distracted   or not engage fully.  Below are some guidelines to help you get the most out of your experience.  On the first    day of class, we will collectively come up with a list of group norms based on our own values and needs, but until that time, here’s a list for those attending synchronously to get you thinking:

• Use your video if you are able—this will not only help you to stay engaged and connect better with your peers (two crucial aspects of learning), but it will also help me as a teacher (it’s much harder to teach to a bunch of black screens!).
• Try to engage in each class as much as you would in person—try to ask at least one question each lecture, participate in all clicker questions, and make the most of your Breakout Room time. Don’t try to multitask, use your phone, etc.; give your full attention to the class.
• Be punctual. It is much easier to lose track of time both for the instructor and students in a virtual environment, so make an extra effort to show up to class on time, and I’ll commit to making sure lectures don’t go over time.
• Don’t spam the chat box—it is a helpful tool to ask questions and to clarify content, but it can also be distracting for students if side conversations are constantly happening throughout a lecture.
• Mute your audio to limit background noise distractions, unless you have a question or comment.
• Take breaks from the screen—75 minutes is a long time to be continuously present in a class. I will do my best to leave time for breaks, and plan on lectures that will not take the entire period, leaving a bit of time at the end for group activity to discuss the homework. If you do need to leave temporarily, be sure to mute your video and audio.

Campus Policies will be followed, they are summarized below for your convenience.

Accommodation for Disabilities

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to Professor Horanyi so that your needs can be addressed.  Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment.  Information on requesting accommodations is located on the Disability Services website. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance.  If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Medical Conditions under the Students tab on the Disability Services website.

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 race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation or political philosophy.  For more information, see the policies on classroom behavior and the Student Code of Conduct.

Preferred Student Names and Pronouns

CU Boulder recognizes that students' legal information doesn't always align with how they identify. Students may update their preferred names and pronouns via the student portal; those preferred names and pronouns are listed on instructors' class rosters. In the absence of such updates, the name that appears on the class roster is the student's legal name.

Honor Code

All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the policy may include: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code (honor@colorado.edu); 303-492-5550). Students found responsible for violating the academic integrity policy will be subject to nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code as well as academic sanctions from the faculty member. Additional information regarding the Honor Code academic integrity policy can be found at the Honor Code Office website.

Sexual Misconduct, Discrimination, Harassment and/or Related Retaliation

The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is committed to fostering a positive and welcoming learning, working, and living environment. CU Boulder will not tolerate acts of sexual misconduct, intimate partner abuse (including dating or domestic violence), stalking, or protected-class discrimination or harassment by members of our community. Individuals who believe they have been subject to misconduct or retaliatory actions for reporting a concern should contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) at 303-492-2127 or cureport@colorado.edu. Information about the OIEC, university policies, anonymous reporting, and the campus resources can be found on the OIEC website.

Please know that faculty and instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when made aware of incidents of sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment and/or related retaliation, to ensure that individuals impacted receive information about options for reporting and support resources.

Religious Holidays

Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance.  In this class, please inform Professor Horanyi of any conflicts.

See the campus policy regarding religious observances for full details