Lesson Plan: Pitch
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to explain the relationship between the frequencies of sound waves, sources of sound waves, and perceived pitch.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that the pitch of a note is related to the frequency of its associated sound wave and changes equivalently to the frequency of the wave,
- recognize that the frequency produced by a vibrating string depends on its length,
- recognize that sounds can consist of single frequencies or many frequencies,
- recognize that more complicated waveforms can be made by adding harmonic tones over the fundamental tone,
- recall the range of frequencies that humans can hear.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the idea that sound is transmitted by waves,
- the fact that a sound wave is an oscillatory movement of particles in the air,
- the fact that sound is a longitudinal wave of compression and rarefaction regions,
- the fact that higher frequency sound waves are of shorter wavelengths.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- any calculations,
- distinctions between traveling and standing waves,
- spectra of sounds.
