How do stringed instruments make sounds?

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You're listening to Brains On, where we're serious about being curious.
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Brains On is supported in part by a grant from
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the National Science Foundation.
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Hey, Mark here with Ellie.
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Hi, everyone.
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Normally, it would be Molly and our wonderful co-host Ellie
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who would start the show. But Ellie just arrived at
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Brains On HQ and Molly is nowhere to be found.
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Yeah.
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So we're going to find her. We already searched all
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of her regular spots.
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We checked Molly's office, Sandon's wildflower garden, Molly's other office
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that she keeps specifically for snacks.
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Hey, Mark, what about this room?
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Oh, that's the Brains On workshop. Maybe Molly's working on
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a project. Let's take a look.
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Wow.
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Holy supersized spiderwebs. There are strings everywhere. All my tools
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are tied together. There's piano wire stretching from the ceiling
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to the floor. Rubber bands on the chairs. Ellie, this
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is a little embarrassing. It's not usually like this. I
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like my workspaces nice and tidy.
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Molly, are you in here?
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Who's that?
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What time is it?
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Oh, gosh.
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I'm late to meet Ellie and record the new bridge. Oh, Ellie,
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you're here with Mark.
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Hi.
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I'm so sorry. I've been doing some string theory research
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and I was up all night. I took a really
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long nap under Mark's work table and.
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String theory? Like from physics?
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What?
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Physics? No, no, no. My string theory is the idea
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that you can make an instrument out of any kind
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of string. I'm close to a real breakthrough, but I
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will admit that string cheese has been a little tricky.
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Good thing we're talking about stringed instruments on the show today.
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Yeah, pretty convenient. Let's go, Ellie. I just need to
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make a quick stop to grab a blueberry scone from
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my snack office.
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Wait!
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But all my tools are still tied together, and there's
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dental floss wrapped around all.
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The cabinets, and.
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Molly, did you eat all my string cheese?
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Gotta go. Bye, Mark. You're listening to Brains On from
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APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom, and I'm here with my co-host, Ellie,
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from Toronto, Canada. So glad you're here, Ellie. Hi!
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Me too, Molly.
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Um, I think you might have some silly string in
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your hair.
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Oh, yep. Got it. Thank you so much. So Ellie,
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you sent in a great question to us. Please remind
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us what it was.
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I wanted to know how stringed instruments make different sounds.
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Excellent question. So what made you think of this question?
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I was playing my harp and I noticed that some
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strings have more of a twangy rubber band sound, whereas
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some are more slightly more musical.
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Oh, interesting. So you play the harp.
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Yes, I do.
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And you brought it with you today, right?
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Yes, I did.
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So, Ellie, can you play the string that you think
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sounds a little more rubber band-y, twang-y? And then can
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you play the one that you think sounds more musical?
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So is it that the twang-y one is a little higher?
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Is that why it sounds like that, do you think?
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I don't know. I just think it sounds more like
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a rubber band.
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Okay. So can you just play a little bit of
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the harp for us as a song that you like
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to play?
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Sure.
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That's very beautiful. So, I mean, it's a gorgeous instrument,
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but what made you want to play the harp?
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My mama suggested it to me. I did some research
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on it and I thought it sounded really beautiful and
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I thought it would be fun to try to play.
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And I've really enjoyed it.
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How long have you been playing it for?
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I'm pretty sure I started when I was eight.
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Okay.
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And how old are you now?
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I am 10. Okay.
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It's been a couple years. That's amazing. It sounds so good.
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I guess we should learn first a little bit how
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you get the harp to make different.
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Notes so all along the harp there are different strings.
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Gotcha can you play the lowest note for me and
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can you play the highest note that's a big range
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are there like exercises or warm-ups you do.
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On the harp uh yes there are could.
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You play one of those for us Ooh, that's very soothing.
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I could listen to you do that all day. But
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I suppose we have an episode to tape, so I
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guess we'll stop for the time being. But maybe later
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you can play me some more. Well, to really understand
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how incredible the world of stringed instruments is, I think
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we need to start with what I like to call
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the wiggle wave.
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Ooh, is that an interpretive dance? Or are we waving
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hi to worms? Is it a worm dance party?
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That sounds fantastic, but I'm actually talking about stringed instruments
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making wiggles in the air. Like I always say, moving
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air around is the key to sound. Let me give
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you an example. Let's see. Oh, okay. Here's a rubber band.
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I'm going to stretch it out between my two pointer fingers. Now, Ellie,
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grab one side of the rubber band and give it
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a little pull. Okay, so you heard that sound, right?
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When you pulled back the rubber band and let it go,
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it moved back and forth really, really quickly in a
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wiggly wave motion. Here, let's try it again.
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Yeah, I can see the rubber band going up and
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down really fast when it wiggles.
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As it goes boinging back and forth, the band pushes
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against the air around it, pushing it outward in the
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same wiggly wave pattern. Those wiggly vibrations push more air
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and on and on until those sound waves get to
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your ear and you hear.
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It's like the sound of the rubber band is touching
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my ear through the air.
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Yeah, and the bigger the sound waves are, the louder
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the sound. The smaller the waves are, the quieter the sound.
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That's volume.
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Okay, but what about different notes? That's not the same
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as how loud or quiet a sound is.
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Right.
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This note is different from this note, even if they're
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the same volume. The two notes are different pitches. Pitch
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is whether a note sounds higher or lower, like these
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notes on the cello. They're low. Low sounds make waves
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that are long and far apart.
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Whoa, that's super low.
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So those are some really wide waves.
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Higher sounds make waves that are much closer together.
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Yeah, like these high notes on a guitar. How about
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a kazoo?
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Technically, a kazoo doesn't have strings, but we'll allow it. Wait,
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that's a great idea. Where's my string theory research book?
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Add strings to kazoo? Fantastic.
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So instruments make sound by creating invisible waves in the air.
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The volume of the sound depends on how big or
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small the waves are. And the pitch is how close
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together or far apart the waves are.
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Speaking of sound waves, we've got some very tricky ones
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coming your way. It's time for the.
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Mystery Sound.
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Are you ready for the mystery sound, Ellie?
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Yes.
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Here it is.
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Whoa.
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What was that? What do you think?
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To me, it kind of sounds like someone's spinning a
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top or rolling a die on top of, like, a guitar.
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Ooh, I love that. Yeah, I have no idea what
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this is either, so I am stumped. Should we hear
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it again?
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Yes.
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Okay.
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What do you think now? Any new thoughts?
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I think I'm going to stick to my original guess.
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Yeah, I think top is a great guess. I'm very
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impressed with whoever spun that top, though, because it lasted forever.
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It did. That's a very good top spinner. All right. Well,
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we will hear it again, get another chance to guess
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and hear the answer after the credits. So stick around.
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We love hearing from you. We love getting your questions,
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mystery sounds, and high fives. You're all so curious and smart.
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Like this one.
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You can find answers to questions like these on the
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Picking up signal. Forever Ago. A history podcast starring Joy Dolo.
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Zorp!
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You're listening to Brains On.
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I'm Ellie.
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And I'm Molly. And we've been talking about how stringed
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instruments make sounds.
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It starts when you pluck or strum or bow a string,
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which makes that string vibrate or wiggle.
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Those wiggles from the string push on the air around
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it and make that air wiggle too. That makes a
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sound wave which travels to our ears. And speaking of
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sound waves, we asked all of you to make some
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waves by recreating the Brains On theme song. Check it out.
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Uh-uh.
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Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
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Uh-huh.
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Uh-huh. Welcome back.
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Wow. Many thanks to Gavin, Cooper, Carter, Charlie, Asher, Mia, Caleb, Lucy, Eddie, Waylon,
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and Roxy for those incredible renditions. I am in awe
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of your magical music minds. So good. I still hear
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them in my head.
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That's not coming from your head. It's coming from your pocket.
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Oh, it's my phone. And It's Brains On producer Anna Goldfield. Hey, Anna,
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what's up?
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Hey, Molly, are you with Ellie?
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Uh-huh, yeah, Ellie's here with me, and we're talking about
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stringed instruments.
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Why?
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I'm feeding the instruments at the petting zoo. You want
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to come by?
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Feeding time? At the instrument petting zoo? Heck yeah, we'll
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be right there. Come on, Ellie. Brains, brains, brains. Here
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we are.
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Hey, Molly.
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Hi, Ellie.
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I'm so glad you're here. Hang on, just let me
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wash my hands. Feeding the trombones always gets so messy.
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That's better.
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Welcome to the instrument petting zoo.
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It's just a room with lots and lots of instruments.
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Laying on the floor?
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Just instruments?
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These are my prized instrument herds. All free-range, well-trained, and
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totally pampered. And when the herd and I heard you
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were going to be talking about stringed instruments... wanted to
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show them off.
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Anna's ukulele won first prize at the fair last year. See,
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it's got a blue ribbon on it. Wow. Ellie and
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I were just talking about how strings make sound waves
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in the air.
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And how we hear the sound waves as notes. They
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can be higher or lower and louder or softer. But
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I still want to know why instruments sound different from
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one another.
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That's a fantastic question. Another one of my string theories
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is that it depends on what you feed your instruments.
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A well-fed instrument always sounds better, right, Anna? Only the
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best diets of healthy whole notes for my little orchestra.
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But really, it's all about how each instrument bounces those
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sound waves around. Instruments have different shapes and are made
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of different things. All of that can change the sound
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they make.
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Yeah, my harp and your guitar are really different shapes
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and sizes, and they make really different sounds.
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Exactly.
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Here, let me show you with my acoustic guitar.
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Come here, baby.
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Yeah.
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So an acoustic guitar usually has six strings and a
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hollow body made out of wood. The strings start at
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the top of the neck. That's where you press down
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to make different notes. And at the other end of
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the guitar, the strings are stretched over a thin piece
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of wood called a bridge that helps pass vibrations into
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the guitar. You can pluck the strings and it sounds
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like this. Or you can strum them like this.
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And there's a hole right in the middle of the guitar,
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underneath where you're strumming.
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Another one of my string theories is that strings make
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better sound waves if you complement them regularly, and also
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if the sound waves can bounce around a lot.
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And bouncing is exactly what's happening. When I play the strings,
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they vibrate throughout the guitar and through this round hole
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in the middle called the sound hole.
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And then they keep bouncing off the walls inside the guitar?
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Yeah, it's kind of like when you yell into a tunnel,
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you know? I love to yell! Your voice makes sound
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waves that bounce around the tunnel, and you hear the
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echoes all coming back on top of each other.
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So the inside of the guitar is like the inside
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of a tunnel, bouncing sound waves around.
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Yes.
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And the sound waves come back out of the sound hole,
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making a bigger, rounder, and fuller sound than just the
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strings twanging on their own. The shape of an instrument
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and the stuff it's made from can totally change how
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those strings sound.
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How?
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I'll show you.
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How about we play a little guessing game? I'll play
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three of my beautiful instrument buddies for you. You can
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try to figure out which instruments are making the sounds,
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and then I'll tell you how their shape and how
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they're made influences the sound. Molly and Ellie, are you ready?
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Yeah.
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Yeah. Okay, here's instrument number one.
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That was fun. What do you think, Ellie?
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I think that was the sound of maybe a banjo.
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Oh, yeah. Kind of had that sound like someone strumming strings,
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kind of like a guitar. It sounded like between a
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guitar and a banjo.
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But not really a ukulele.
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Yeah, I agree. Okay.
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More of a country sound.
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More of a country sound. I'm gonna go with a
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tiny guitar that's not a ukulele. Are we right?
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So you were right on the money with your thought
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that maybe it was kind of country because this instrument
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is used in country and bluegrass music a lot. That
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was a mandolin.
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What's a mandolin, Anna?
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I've never heard of it before.
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Well, a mandolin is an instrument that's around the same
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size as a violin. So you can hold it pretty
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easily in one hand. And The body of it is
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kind of a teardrop shape and it's got four notes
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like a violin. It's tuned like a violin, but each
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note is played by two strings. So there are pairs
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of strings and it gives it that kind of full sound,
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that nice round sound that you heard, but it makes
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it really tricky to tune.
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All right. Will you please show us instrument number two? Wow,
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that was deep. What do you think, Ellie?
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It sounded kind of like maybe like a cello.
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Good guess. I think it sounds even deeper. deeper than
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a cello. Is it a bass? What is it called?
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Is it a bass? Like the one that stands upright,
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like a really big cello?
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Yeah, you nailed it. It is an upright bass. So
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those are some big, big, wide sound waves because the
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notes were so low. So I want you to picture
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a violin with that kind of figure eight shape and
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the F-shaped holes in the body and then the neck
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and the tuning pegs. And then I want you to
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imagine that that violin is six feet tall because that's
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how big a string bass is.
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Whoa.
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That's very tall for an instrument.
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All right.
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Are you ready for instrument? Number three.
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Yep. Yes.
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Hmm.
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What do you think, Ellie?
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I hear guitar-y sounds.
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Then again, I also hear, like, high-pitched buzzing like a trumpet.
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But I also hear metal clicking, so I don't really know.
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Yeah, those are really good observations. I think I have
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an idea what it is.
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Okay.
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Is this an instrument from India?
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It is.
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Tell us what it is.
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That was the sound of a sitar. The sitar is
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a plucked string instrument. It's related to a lute. And
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it's about four feet long. And you play it sitting
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down with the body in your lap. The body is
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kind of a pear-shaped gourd. And it's got a long,
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wide neck that you kind of hold up at an
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angle and play. And sitars can have between 18 and
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21 strings. And that's because some of the strings are
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for plucking and some... lined up underneath the plucked strings
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are sympathetic. That doesn't mean they'll sit and listen to
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your problems. Sympathetic vibration is when a sound or other
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type of wave passes from one object to another. So
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when the sitar player plucks the top strings that are
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stretched over these high, curved wooden bridges that hold them
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up off the body of the instrument, the sound waves
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also travel to the strings underneath, and those vibrate a
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little bit, And that makes that twangy, echoey sound that
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you heard.
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That's so cool.
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That's amazing.
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Yeah, sitar's fun.
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Thank you both so much for playing with me.
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Thank you, Anna.
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That was so fun. And I think this proves my
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biggest string theory of all. Stringed instruments are wonderful because
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they make so many amazing sounds. What a breakthrough. Maybe
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now I can finally make the string cheese harp I've
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been dreaming of. Where's my notebook?
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Stringed instruments push air into wiggly sound waves, which travel
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to our ears.
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Loud sound waves are made up of big, wiggly waves,
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and soft sounds are made up of smaller, wiggly waves.
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The pitch of a sound is how high or low
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it is.
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And stringed instruments sound different from each other because of
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the different tools used to hit, pluck, or play them.
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Plus the size and shape of their body.
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That's it for this episode of Brains On.
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This episode was written by Anna Goldfield. It was produced
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00:22:49.410 --> 00:22:52.670
by Molly Bloom and Rosie Dupont. Our editors are Sanan
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00:22:52.690 --> 00:22:56.130
Tan and Shayla Farzan. Fact-checking by Ruby Guthrie.
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00:22:56.700 --> 00:23:01.000
We had engineering help from Gary O'Keefe, Derek Ramirez, Lucien Lozon,
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00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:04.160
and Bill Walker with sound design by Rachel Brees. Original
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00:23:04.180 --> 00:23:07.680
theme music by Mark Sanchez. We had production help from
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00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:10.410
the rest of the Brains On Universe team. Anna Coldfield,
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00:23:10.529 --> 00:23:14.730
Nico Gonzalez-Whistler, Lauren Humphert, Joshua Ray, Charlotte Traver, Anna Weigel,
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00:23:14.849 --> 00:23:18.730
and Adarone Woldesalassie. Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and
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00:23:18.750 --> 00:23:21.769
the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati
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00:23:21.950 --> 00:23:25.250
and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Jonathan and Diane Scarlett.
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Brains On is a non-profit public radio program.
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00:23:29.019 --> 00:23:31.519
There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe
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00:23:31.539 --> 00:23:33.440
to Brains On Universe on YouTube, where you can watch
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00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:36.289
animated versions of some of your favorite episodes. Or head
415
00:23:36.309 --> 00:23:37.509
to brainson.org.
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00:23:37.789 --> 00:23:40.599
While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings,
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00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:41.500
and questions.
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00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:44.740
Speaking of mystery sounds, Ellie, are you ready to hear
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00:23:44.779 --> 00:23:45.400
that sound again?
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00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:45.490
Yep.
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00:23:46.380 --> 00:23:46.589
Sweet.
422
00:24:04.289 --> 00:24:06.329
Nice. Okay, what do we think?
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00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:10.710
I'm still sticking to my original guess. The die or
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00:24:10.789 --> 00:24:14.329
the top rolling or spinning on.
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00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.400
Top of a guitar or a table.
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00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:18.640
I love that guess. I have no idea, so I'm
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00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:21.980
going to stick to your guess too. Let's hear the answer.
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00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:27.259
Hi, my name is Edgar from Akers, Georgia, and that
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was the sound of my top spinning.
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00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.109
Oh my gosh, Ellie. You did it!
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00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:34.819
You got it right.
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00:24:35.380 --> 00:24:39.859
How does that feel? Great. Awesome. Have you spun tops before?
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You must have.
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Yes, I have.
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Can you spin your tops as long as Edgar can?
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Because that was pretty impressive, Edgar.
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No.
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The tables in my house have like cracks on them
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for the wood as a design.
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00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:54.119
So they always get.
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Stuck on them.
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00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:55.740
Okay.
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We need a better surface for you.
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Wow.
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Good guessing. Excellent ears. Now it's time for the Brain's
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Honor Roll. These are the incredible kids who keep this
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00:25:21.809 --> 00:25:24.720
show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and
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00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:29.339
high fives. Baker from Bremerton, Washington. Sebastian from Inverrury, Scotland.
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00:25:29.480 --> 00:25:32.380
Caden and Hunter from Belgrade, Montana. Aurora and Lottie from Charlotte,
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00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.240
North Carolina. Anya from Newburgh, New York. Adina from Toronto.
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Jack from Mesa, Arizona. Peter from Windsor, Wisconsin. Lily from
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00:25:38.279 --> 00:25:41.720
Los Angeles. Orion from Portland, Oregon. Kai from Honolulu. Cora
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and Jodi from Sebastopol, California. Ferris from New York City.
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Adeline from Raleigh, North Carolina. Phoebe from Beijing. Abel from
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Moreno Valley, California. Francis and May from Kamloops, British Columbia.
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Olive from Vancouver, Washington. Salome from Lebanon, New Jersey. Hazel
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from San Diego, California. Gabriel from Brooklyn, New York. Nico
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from Austin, Texas. Axel from Winnipeg. Shoshana from Leander, Texas.
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Amelia from Waukee, Iowa. Junie from Queens, New York. Otis
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00:26:05.750 --> 00:26:09.259
from Mill Valley, California. Florence from Courtney, British Columbia. Hania
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from Louisville, Kentucky. Kit from Massachusetts. Levi and Owen from
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Santa Clara, California. Anson from San Marino, California. Fred from Coppet, Switzerland.
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Grace from Ontario. Riley from Rochester, New York. Bebe from Baltimore.
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Marcus and Everett from Dallas. Yousef from Cairo, Egypt. Ray
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from England. Chloe, Evan, and Caleb from Omaha. Dominic from Papillon, Nebraska.
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Elliot from Melbourne, Australia. Greenlee from Calgary. Avery from Waukee, Iowa.
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Decker from Northfield, Minnesota. Luke and Elijah from Cocoa Beach, Florida.
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Nirali from Delaware, Ohio. Alyssa from Oakville, Ontario. Allie from Colorado. Savion, Kalief,
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and Jurner from Oakland, California. Andrew from Pierce, Minnesota. Jocelyn
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from Moncton, New Brunswick. Titus from Sacramento, Olive and Remy
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from Candler, North Carolina, Zara from San Francisco, June from Heidelberg, Germany,
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Miles from Alameda, California, Olin and Enzo from Missouri City, Texas,
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Rosie from Austin, Texas, and Corbin from Burien, Washington. We'll
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be back next week with an episode all about vacuums.
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Thanks for listening.