Here is the list of suggested demos for filming related to the music Part of the course (tuning, timbre and pitch or tempering and scales, room acoustics etc); the list is not exhaustive and is here to get you thinking about what we need for the course. The sooner we agree on it the sooner can we start filming!
I would suggest the following for the three topics in which Coul is involved (keeping the numbering from the current course layout):
3. The physics of acoustic instruments: air columns (e.g. flute vs. clarinet), string vibrations, resonance and sympathy, tuning, timbre and pitch. [P, C]
*recording same note or melody played with different instruments, possibly overlaid with Fourier spectra/envelopes of these on video (timbre)
*recording the sounds of clarinet and flute (timbre, air columns)
*tuning forks (currently designed to show resonance, should be easy to also show tuning and beats)
*Ruben's tube with cello (string vibration, sound waves) - done
6. Scales and tuning: mathematical relations, equal temperament, consonance & dissonance, history of scales and pitch standards, non-Western scales, Bohlen-Pierce scale. [C,E]
*playing in consonance and dissonance (perhaps use 20th century music), add Fourier spectra to video
*play Western (Major, Minor, Harmonic minor) scales and, if possible, play the closest approximation to all scales that he course will touch upon (perhaps Pythagorean Scale, Pentatonic Scales, Hexatonic Scales including Blues, Gypsy or Hungarian Minor, Spanish Gypsy Scale) and Bohlen-Pierce scale.
*compare just and equal temperament - play notes/chords using different tempering
7. Music in the environment: orchestral layout, speakers and PA systems, room acoustics, reverberation, the challenge of artificial reverb, impulse response. [C,P]
* play the same instrument in a small room and in a large hall - if the audio quality will be able to pick up the difference - if not - possibly this is not the one for filming.
* send them off for a tour of Wiener Musikverein :-) - jokes aside - a tour of some known concert hall, possibly on video, explaining various features of the hall and why they are there may be a good idea.
Nick has since suggested several spaces that may be compared for acoustics (Studio in the arts centre(poor), a church or new Coventry Cathedral (good), possibly a concert hall either at the Arts centre or in Birmingham.
Please, let us know your thoughts!