NBHS Teachers Demonstrate "Physics Behind the Music"
Physics teacher Janice Brady partnered with band instructor Frank Rizzo to bring physics students into the band room for a lesson that was geared toward “physics behind the music.” The two teachers taught a lesson on harmonic series and the frequency spectrum. The lesson was launched with a physics review by Ms. Brady and then taken over by Mr. Rizzo who utilized the expert playing of two band members to illustrate concepts related to tones and the harmonic series up to the 12th partial. He also played flute with a student to illustrate a buzzing noise you could produce when certain tones are joined together to create new waves of sound, and a student played guitar to show how harmonics are achieved on a string instrument. The students were delighted by the demonstrations and the two teachers truly showed that physics can be musical and fun.
