Examining the Physics of Music

Take a few select notes, add an envelope, some overtones, and just the right timbre. Now let that vibrate your basilar membrane. What do you have? Beethoven's Ninth, of course. So what makes one sound "musical" while another is just noise?

Guests:

Bryant Hichwa, professor, physics and astronomy, Sonoma State University

David Kirkby, associate professor, experimental particle physics, University of California Irvine

Brian Holmes, professor of physics, San Jose State University