Language Lab, University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis

Pop Music

This activity involves a video demonstration of the effect of a sound's duration on its frequency. The video can be seen here, which will open the web site for the Science of Music from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. To watch the video, click on Experiment 2 (Pop Music). Watch the video as many times as you need to in order to understand. When you are done watching the video, answer the questions below.

 

1. The three people in the video are discussing the relationship between:
A. The length of a sound and the breadth of its frequency spectrum
B. How loud a sound is and its tone
C. The source of a sound and its quality
D. The source of a sound and its strength

 

2. The man in the video explains that:
A. The sound of a balloon popping is very loud
B. Sounds made by a piano are have a greater frequency spectrum than those made by a balloon
C. The shorter a sound is, the broader the frequency spectrum
D. The bigger the source of a sound, the louder the sound is

 

3. The man says that a "pop" that lasts 1/1000 of a second will have frequencies up to _______________cycles per second.
A. Ten thousand
B. One thousand
C. One thousandth
D. Thousands

 

4. The man then says that "in a funny way, a pop is like a ______ ______." Type the missing words in the space below:

 

5. One of the women then refers to a sound that can be made with a piano, saying "you know how sometimes you __________ the piano __________ down." What are the two missing words from this sentence? Type the first word here:

 

6. Type the second one here:

 

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