We made quiz questions to help you review the content in this episode! Find them on the free Crash Course App! Download it here for Apple Devices: apple.co/3d4eyZo Download it here for Android Devices: bit.ly/3TW06aP
I want to see a Crash Course for Music Theory. It would explain more about the musical notation of the harmonic series. For example the first harmonic has 1 wave, the second has two. Doubling the frequency adds one octave (same note, but higher pitch). The third harmonic is the 5th of the relative scale. (If 1st and 2nd harmonic is C, the 3rd is G) and the forth harmonic is four waves, which is double the frequency of the second harmonic and thus two octaves above the first harmonic. The fifth harmonic is interesting. It is a slightly flat third. This is why wind bands have the advantage over guitars and pianos. Wind bands can adjust the the thirds of chords to perfectly fit into the harmonic series to produce are more powerful chord.
maverickbna Its not typical maths, its just a sum like in science or geography S=D/T (Speed=Distance/Time Thats not really maths just music using arithmatic symbols. If was Maths then it would have the four operations; multiplication, addition, subtraction and division
Light & sound separations: White light can be separated into different color lights by prism (science). Can a song be separated (mp3, AIFF, Wave) into each different instrument track and vocal track by the computer software (art)?
The talk about closed- and open-ended pipes reminds me of an experience I had with a very long open-ended pipe (maybe 400 meters long?) that would "replay" anything shouted into one end a few seconds later. I mentioned it to my college acoustical physics teacher and he was unable to provide an explanation.
As a musician I feel compelled to mention this: A bigger reason why instruments sound different is because of how the sound is created, and what goes on inside the instrument.
I highly recommend pairing this video with "Why It's Impossible to Tune a Piano" by Minute Physics for those who are interested/studying music theory/mathematics. He expands on these concepts with more complex real-world mediums - very good stuff to know.
I have a question! I play the clarinet and the saxophone. On both instruments we do an exercise where we alter our embouchure to achieve different harmonics of a particular fundamental note without using the register/octave key. On clarinet, what the video says about closed pipe instruments only being able to achieve odd harmonics holds true. On the Saxophone, however, you can achieve every harmonic. To me, they both seem like they would be pipes closed at one end. Why does the saxophone act differently than the clarinet? Does it have to do with the saxophone being conical an the clarinet isn't?
Just a pedantic comment for Thought Cafe: The graphic at 0:25 shows a saxophone on the right as she says "brass instruments". While the body of saxophones are made of brass, they are wind instruments. The brass instruments are trumpets, trombones, etc.
So does a Bassoon work like a pipe with one closed end? That doesn't seem to make sense since air goes through the entire instrument, but that seems to be what was implied at 9:37.
The video 8:38-8:43 shows a vibrating air tube (pipe) open on one end while fixed on the other. I think only odd number harmonics are allowed, so the second label should actually be "third harmonic". I think this is an error.
Seen CrashCourses before, but this one made me go straight to Patreon and support. Great work! I usually set videos like this to 1.5x, but did not with this. Thanks for not dumbing down too far.
I have a question regarding the closed pipes. In your diagram, it shows 2nd harmonic. I thought that closed pipes only go in odd numbers so wouldn't it be 1st, 3rd, and 5th harmonic?
And how does it work for brass instruments? You can play different notes without changing the size of the tubes at all. The brass players call the different notes you can play without pressing keys "harmonics". By what i understand, you can, by changing the embochure, "remove" the lower harmonics, but i am not sure that's how it goes.
Love this channel! Just a suggestion- there are clearly a ton of audio edits in this, which is fine, but they are crammed so close together it sounds unnatural. The narrator in this one is literally talking over herself in almost every sentence. Putting a half second pause between them would make it sound so much more seamless. However, terrific channel and very worth subscribing to!
The Bassoon and Flute sounded different at the end because they weren't playing the same C. The Bassoon played the C an octave below the Flute's C. Should have had them both play the same frequency for a better example.
Thank you so much for this great video! I am a violin teacher and this is a wonderful explanation for some of my students about how sound works on a deeper level.
2:20 No you cant. You are thinking of those videos where you can see the string move like that, but that is just due to th shutter effect. If you film a string in slow motion, it just moves back and forth. The ossolating motion is created inthe air by the string
Do you shorten the gap between the ends of sentences ? Sometimes the audio feels like it's chopped together very close with no breathing space between the end and start of a sentence. Great content BTW love the channel.
2:38 - When you show the wave diagram with the flute, are the waves supposed to represent pressure like in longitudinal waves, or is the air actually moving around like a guitar string does? Also, what about quarter tones? Do they come out to be nice mathematical harmonics too?
That's the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves. In a guitar string, the wave is transverse, as in the string particles move perpendicular to the direction of the wave. But in air, the molecules travel in the direction of the wave. Hope that helps.
at first I thought the "familiar tune" the instruments were playing was "morning mood". I didn't realize until seven minutes in that it was the crash course theme song. Is there a full-length acoustic version of the theme song anywhere on the internet for us to listen to? It was very beautiful~
Dear anyone, For singing: How exactly is the frequency happening? Is there a tightening or loosening of the vocal chords themselves to change the amplitudes of soundwaves? Is it only the exhale that's causing the vocal chords to move? Please and thank you, A curious scientist-singer
what harmonics play also determine the shape of the standing wave. if it is only the fundamental, it's a sine-wave, if it has every harmonic up to a point, it's a triangle wave. If it has every harmonic possible, it's a saw wave, and if it has alternating harmonics, it's a square wave. There's also more than just the attributes of the standing wave that play into it, The other half, is the way that energy is added to the wave, For instance the difference between a plucked string instrument, and a bowed string instrument. a Plucked string instrument when played softly is a sine wave, when plucked with a pick becomes a triangle wave, and when plucked very hard becomes a saturated sine wave (gaining alternating harmonics and becoming square-like, but not getting all the harmonics), and then loses harmonics over time. This is because energy is only added in one moment. A bowed instrument on the other hand, Dramatically shapes the wave into a Saw-wave, containing all the harmonics. It does so by the bow gripping the string at one point, pulling it all the way to a peak, and then letting go, only to instantly pull it back into a peak again faster than it's normal oscillation allows. This means the peaks are equidistant from eachother, and the troughs are equidistant from eachother, BUT the peaks distance from the trough is skewed, where one trough is closer to a particular peak than another. Brass instruments also work this way, the inside of the mouth builds pressure, then releases it in a burst only to abruptly stop and build more pressure, but the pressure is only added at the peak and not the trough of the wave. Then there's woodwinds, which are based on square waves. One end being closed does play into that square shape, of alternating harmonics, BUT the way in which energy is added to the wave is ALSO square in nature. In woodwind instruments there is a wooden plate, called a reed, which the air must flow over. air blows into the instrument and pushes the reed into one of two possible positions, it allows a small amount of air through and then the reed seals off the air from that direction, and now air must go the other way, which then flips the reed into the other position, and it alternates between two fixed positions. This is a square wave. adding energy to the wave ONLY at the maximum points of the peak and trough of the wave. This is also how kazoos work. These principals for harmonic content where deliberately chosen to create different characteristics for instruments, and now in modern day, (especially in the 70's and 80's when it was new) electronic instruments attempting to emulate the sounds of real instruments, used basic waveforms, Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square, and Pulse, though at this point it's less about physics and more about maths.
Now that these harmonics are defined, how do they then effect matter while in motion? (cymatics) Given the atomic weight of molecular structure and the influence of gravity, please explain how a sound wave influences the direction and coupling of molecules into a geometric pattern.
since the trumpet can get even numbered harmonics and is closed at one end by your lips, what acts as the other closed end? the mouthpiece taper or the bell?
I'm struggling to understand how overtones are made. When you pluck a guitar string or the hammer hits the string in a piano i don't understand exactly what happens. Is it like this: The first vibration of the string is the half wavelength, giving the fundamental frequency, producing the main note; then the 2nd time the string vibrates it does so with a full wavelength present along the string, producing an overtone; then the 3rd time it vibrates it has 1.5 wavelengths, producing a new overtone.....etc...?? I'm sure i've got this wrong and would really appreciate it if someone could kindly help me understand.
Interesting, as I've always referred to the fundamental as 'the fundamental', and the octave above as 'the first harmonic.' Different disciplines giving rise to different terms, I suppose. It has always tickled me (literally) that double-reed instruments begin the standing wave in the mouth; anything one does with the tongue and throat will affect the bassoon tone production.
This episode talks about the physics of string, brass & wind instruments only. What about percussion instruments like the xylophone, marimba, celesta or glockenspiel? A show on classical music?
I could be wrong, but by my knowledge, when you hit, let's say, a snare, it does not reproduce a fundamental frequency but a multitude of different frequencies. Kind of how "noise waves" are produced by software. This makes it playable independently from any key. Orchestral percussion, on the other hand, does reproduce specific notes and have to be tuned according to what's being played. It would be great if anyone who knows more about this could give us some better insight.
A snare drum will produce a defined tone if tuned accordingly. The thing is that snare drums have a snare in the resonant head, which produces the "noise". Orchestral percussionists play a specific tone simply because they are required to do so, but a a lot of drummers tune their drums to specific notes as well. By the way, all instruments reproduce a multitude of frequencies, the overtones. Just think of a drum like a very wide but short pipe.
Something about Shini's annunciation, particularly the almost but not exactly RP style syllabic stressing combined with the stripped down music arrangement is reminiscent of Within the Wires.
We made quiz questions to help you review the content in this episode! Find them on the free Crash Course App!
Download it here for Apple Devices: apple.co/3d4eyZo
Download it here for Android Devices: bit.ly/3TW06aP
PLEASE DO CRASH COURSE MUSIC THEORY
I would also love to see a CC Music Theory, or a CC Music History
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As a musician and science nerd this nearly brought me to tears. I loved this well done crash course. DFTBA.
PLEASE make Crash Course Music Theory a thing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love this. Very useful for my Physics of Music university course.
Don't suppose you folks could do a series on music history, could you?
I want to see a Crash Course for Music Theory. It would explain more about the musical notation of the harmonic series. For example the first harmonic has 1 wave, the second has two. Doubling the frequency adds one octave (same note, but higher pitch). The third harmonic is the 5th of the relative scale. (If 1st and 2nd harmonic is C, the 3rd is G) and the forth harmonic is four waves, which is double the frequency of the second harmonic and thus two octaves above the first harmonic.
The fifth harmonic is interesting. It is a slightly flat third. This is why wind bands have the advantage over guitars and pianos. Wind bands can adjust the the thirds of chords to perfectly fit into the harmonic series to produce are more powerful chord.
This is the video I've been searching for years to help explain music to my mates.
Thank you crashcourse and please do more music related videos.
I think this episode is really cool, and I learned a lot, but this just scratches the surface of the science of music.
i aM SO HAPPY THIS IS OUT NOW BECAUSE I HAVE A PHYSICS OF MUSIC REPORT TO WRITE THANK YOU
Please make more music-related videos!
Yes! Please do!
We need more music vids!
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please do this!
8:36 Shouldn't the one in the middle be the "3rd harmonic"? So, 3 times the fundamental frequency (0.25) is 0.75.
Hier00 shut up
@@pablogarcia-villosladamend366 What a moron you are...
A lovely day for science.
I agree.
- Nick J.
Okay, how about some diagrams for us lonely free reed instrumenters? We never get any theory love!
Nobody said there would be math... ;)
maverickbna Its not typical maths, its just a sum like in science or geography S=D/T (Speed=Distance/Time
Thats not really maths just music using arithmatic symbols. If was Maths then it would have the four operations; multiplication, addition, subtraction and division
Thanika Kaur-Scille It was a joke, apparently it didn't get through. Thanks for the explanation though :)
Light & sound separations:
White light can be separated into different color lights by prism (science). Can a song be separated (mp3, AIFF, Wave) into each different instrument track and vocal track by the computer software (art)?
The talk about closed- and open-ended pipes reminds me of an experience I had with a very long open-ended pipe (maybe 400 meters long?) that would "replay" anything shouted into one end a few seconds later. I mentioned it to my college acoustical physics teacher and he was unable to provide an explanation.
This combination of subjects is exactly why I am interested in majoring in acoustics. Love it!
No drums? OK sure I guess I'll go sit in a corner. oh wait! I already do.
Here you go: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Drum_vibration_animations Might be useful in QM as well.
+neverAskMeWhy07 +
Small error at 8:41 (the 2nd example is the 3rd harmonic); thanks for all your hard work! Well done.
I'm impressed. Feynman's Lectures on Physics beside you. Great video.
As a musician I feel compelled to mention this:
A bigger reason why instruments sound different is because of how the sound is created, and what goes on inside the instrument.
I highly recommend pairing this video with "Why It's Impossible to Tune a Piano" by Minute Physics for those who are interested/studying music theory/mathematics. He expands on these concepts with more complex real-world mediums - very good stuff to know.
will we get a series talking all about music?
I have a question!
I play the clarinet and the saxophone. On both instruments we do an exercise where we alter our embouchure to achieve different harmonics of a particular fundamental note without using the register/octave key. On clarinet, what the video says about closed pipe instruments only being able to achieve odd harmonics holds true. On the Saxophone, however, you can achieve every harmonic.
To me, they both seem like they would be pipes closed at one end. Why does the saxophone act differently than the clarinet? Does it have to do with the saxophone being conical an the clarinet isn't?
I guess we percussionists just don't get to learn about our instruments.
Just pretend they're big woodwinds.
+Ian Conn It's more like they're a really wide string.
Not really, though.
A string vibrates transversely but the column of air in a drum is longitudinal.
Piano is a percussion instrument, so all is not lost.
+Ian Conn actually the air vibrates in the same way. you could call the skin of a drum a string, i think.
OMG, I just discovered this channel thanks to Extra Credits, the content is amazing. Thank you
I cant express how much I love these intros ^^ I always pause to read them hehe
ermahgerd i clicked so fast, math and music are my everything
Oh the stereotype. Gurl, you are not helping.
+Catsexual I'm not helping the stereotype either by being here
Neither am I.
Oh man if you still can't spell stereotype after it's been repeated twice you're so boned XD you need a beer man
maths is love, maths is life
Crash course, music theory?
Just a pedantic comment for Thought Cafe:
The graphic at 0:25 shows a saxophone on the right as she says "brass instruments". While the body of saxophones are made of brass, they are wind instruments. The brass instruments are trumpets, trombones, etc.
Marching band is physics, geometry, and instrumental art, but you only get one credit for it. Way to jip us high school credit system.
At my school, we get a physical education credit if you join marching band.
+Nguyễn Đinh Quân lucky! I wish
+Nguyễn Đinh Quân I wish that would happen in my school.
+Nguyễn Đinh Quân damn, I wish
+
So does a Bassoon work like a pipe with one closed end? That doesn't seem to make sense since air goes through the entire instrument, but that seems to be what was implied at 9:37.
The video 8:38-8:43 shows a vibrating air tube (pipe) open on one end while fixed on the other. I think only odd number harmonics are allowed, so the second label should actually be "third harmonic". I think this is an error.
are you going to create a crash course for music?
Seen CrashCourses before, but this one made me go straight to Patreon and support.
Great work!
I usually set videos like this to 1.5x, but did not with this. Thanks for not dumbing down too far.
I have a question regarding the closed pipes. In your diagram, it shows 2nd harmonic. I thought that closed pipes only go in odd numbers so wouldn't it be 1st, 3rd, and 5th harmonic?
And how does it work for brass instruments? You can play different notes without changing the size of the tubes at all. The brass players call the different notes you can play without pressing keys "harmonics". By what i understand, you can, by changing the embochure, "remove" the lower harmonics, but i am not sure that's how it goes.
You know what else is music to my ears? Shini's voice :D
Crash Course music theory!
omg i just noticed in the opening at 0:45 they have a trigger warning for trigonometry. lol
How about crash course music theory/history? I watched Lypur do some of it a couple of years ago, he was a lifesaver.
Bravo to all the music instruments makers! They are our unsung heroes today!!
Great episode! My favorite instrument is the computer :D
The flute playing the crash course theme😍😍😍
This episode left me wanting a Crash Course Concerto.
This is my first CC Physics. While I enjoyed the material, I will say I like it better when Hank hosts CC
Love this channel! Just a suggestion- there are clearly a ton of audio edits in this, which is fine, but they are crammed so close together it sounds unnatural. The narrator in this one is literally talking over herself in almost every sentence. Putting a half second pause between them would make it sound so much more seamless. However, terrific channel and very worth subscribing to!
Please make crash course music stuff!
The Bassoon and Flute sounded different at the end because they weren't playing the same C. The Bassoon played the C an octave below the Flute's C. Should have had them both play the same frequency for a better example.
Thank you so much for this great video! I am a violin teacher and this is a wonderful explanation for some of my students about how sound works on a deeper level.
2:20 No you cant. You are thinking of those videos where you can see the string move like that, but that is just due to th shutter effect. If you film a string in slow motion, it just moves back and forth. The ossolating motion is created inthe air by the string
Do you shorten the gap between the ends of sentences ? Sometimes the audio feels like it's chopped together very close with no breathing space between the end and start of a sentence. Great content BTW love the channel.
Cool. What about tension and standing wave relation in a string?
u explained it perfectly thanks a lot seriously!!
10:08 Wasn't PBS Game Show canceled? I mean people should check it out, and I hope it gets picked up again, but the latest episode was months ago.
0:27 Saxophones are actually woodwinds, not brass instruments. They have reeds in the mouthpieces.
I love the physics of sound!!!
Make a Crash Course Music Theory series!
I wish she said the difference in sounds between instruments is called Timbre
2:38 - When you show the wave diagram with the flute, are the waves supposed to represent pressure like in longitudinal waves, or is the air actually moving around like a guitar string does?
Also, what about quarter tones? Do they come out to be nice mathematical harmonics too?
That's the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves. In a guitar string, the wave is transverse, as in the string particles move perpendicular to the direction of the wave. But in air, the molecules travel in the direction of the wave. Hope that helps.
at first I thought the "familiar tune" the instruments were playing was "morning mood". I didn't realize until seven minutes in that it was the crash course theme song. Is there a full-length acoustic version of the theme song anywhere on the internet for us to listen to? It was very beautiful~
Dear anyone,
For singing: How exactly is the frequency happening? Is there a tightening or loosening of the vocal chords themselves to change the amplitudes of soundwaves? Is it only the exhale that's causing the vocal chords to move?
Please and thank you,
A curious scientist-singer
More music physics please!! 😍
U guys ARE awesome!!! thnx SO much!
what harmonics play also determine the shape of the standing wave. if it is only the fundamental, it's a sine-wave, if it has every harmonic up to a point, it's a triangle wave. If it has every harmonic possible, it's a saw wave, and if it has alternating harmonics, it's a square wave.
There's also more than just the attributes of the standing wave that play into it, The other half, is the way that energy is added to the wave, For instance the difference between a plucked string instrument, and a bowed string instrument. a Plucked string instrument when played softly is a sine wave, when plucked with a pick becomes a triangle wave, and when plucked very hard becomes a saturated sine wave (gaining alternating harmonics and becoming square-like, but not getting all the harmonics), and then loses harmonics over time. This is because energy is only added in one moment.
A bowed instrument on the other hand, Dramatically shapes the wave into a Saw-wave, containing all the harmonics. It does so by the bow gripping the string at one point, pulling it all the way to a peak, and then letting go, only to instantly pull it back into a peak again faster than it's normal oscillation allows. This means the peaks are equidistant from eachother, and the troughs are equidistant from eachother, BUT the peaks distance from the trough is skewed, where one trough is closer to a particular peak than another. Brass instruments also work this way, the inside of the mouth builds pressure, then releases it in a burst only to abruptly stop and build more pressure, but the pressure is only added at the peak and not the trough of the wave.
Then there's woodwinds, which are based on square waves. One end being closed does play into that square shape, of alternating harmonics, BUT the way in which energy is added to the wave is ALSO square in nature. In woodwind instruments there is a wooden plate, called a reed, which the air must flow over. air blows into the instrument and pushes the reed into one of two possible positions, it allows a small amount of air through and then the reed seals off the air from that direction, and now air must go the other way, which then flips the reed into the other position, and it alternates between two fixed positions. This is a square wave. adding energy to the wave ONLY at the maximum points of the peak and trough of the wave. This is also how kazoos work.
These principals for harmonic content where deliberately chosen to create different characteristics for instruments, and now in modern day, (especially in the 70's and 80's when it was new) electronic instruments attempting to emulate the sounds of real instruments, used basic waveforms, Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square, and Pulse, though at this point it's less about physics and more about maths.
I love this episode!
Now that these harmonics are defined, how do they then effect matter while in motion? (cymatics) Given the atomic weight of molecular structure and the influence of gravity, please explain how a sound wave influences the direction and coupling of molecules into a geometric pattern.
I'm working on thesis work that involves clamped/free vibration. It's rare to see this kind of stuff talked about so thats pretty cool :)
since the trumpet can get even numbered harmonics and is closed at one end by your lips, what acts as the other closed end? the mouthpiece taper or the bell?
The lips would be the first antinode, thus an open end.
' hey that's a familiar tune' is that epona's song from zelda?
*theme song starts playing* ow... close enough
Please make more music content
8:41 the one in the middle, isnt that 3rd harmonic?
Where can we ask doubts ? An email or something ?
You make physics seem so easy.
I love this series
Crash Course DEFINITELY needs a music series! That would be awesome!
I'm struggling to understand how overtones are made. When you pluck a guitar string or the hammer hits the string in a piano i don't understand exactly what happens. Is it like this: The first vibration of the string is the half wavelength, giving the fundamental frequency, producing the main note; then the 2nd time the string vibrates it does so with a full wavelength present along the string, producing an overtone; then the 3rd time it vibrates it has 1.5 wavelengths, producing a new overtone.....etc...?? I'm sure i've got this wrong and would really appreciate it if someone could kindly help me understand.
Inharmonicity. This concept will blow your mind.
Interesting, as I've always referred to the fundamental as 'the fundamental', and the octave above as 'the first harmonic.' Different disciplines giving rise to different terms, I suppose. It has always tickled me (literally) that double-reed instruments begin the standing wave in the mouth; anything one does with the tongue and throat will affect the bassoon tone production.
yesssssssss!!!!!!! two things i love together!!!!!!!
This episode talks about the physics of string, brass & wind instruments only. What about percussion instruments like the xylophone, marimba, celesta or glockenspiel?
A show on classical music?
The keys on a marimba/xylophone/vibraphone/etc. act as a pipe open on both ends with nodes where the strings are.
Can you do the physics of singing? That would be awesome
8:36 i think you mean 3rd harmonic
THANK YOU SO MUCH for making all of these physics videos!!! I always look forward to watching them whenever we start a new unit! :)
God, I wish this series existed when I was in high-school.
A question here so if I pluck high E open string, will I get a single standing wave i.e. a anti node and two nodes ?
This answered so many questions I've had and gave me the direction I need to go ~ Thank you so very much.
Include citation in your description please! I use y'all for class all the time.
Music is a God given gift.
is mayonnaise an instrument?
No, but horseradish is.
+Fematika
I tried to play horseradish but I couldn't cut the mustard.
Nice
no, patrick...
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how does it work with drums? or percussion instruments
I could be wrong, but by my knowledge, when you hit, let's say, a snare, it does not reproduce a fundamental frequency but a multitude of different frequencies. Kind of how "noise waves" are produced by software. This makes it playable independently from any key. Orchestral percussion, on the other hand, does reproduce specific notes and have to be tuned according to what's being played.
It would be great if anyone who knows more about this could give us some better insight.
A snare drum will produce a defined tone if tuned accordingly. The thing is that snare drums have a snare in the resonant head, which produces the "noise". Orchestral percussionists play a specific tone simply because they are required to do so, but a a lot of drummers tune their drums to specific notes as well. By the way, all instruments reproduce a multitude of frequencies, the overtones. Just think of a drum like a very wide but short pipe.
Please do Crash Course Music/Music Theory
Something about Shini's annunciation, particularly the almost but not exactly RP style syllabic stressing combined with the stripped down music arrangement is reminiscent of Within the Wires.
The beginning sounds like "morning" by Grieg
+Han Boetes Yes, it's not exactly it but it does sound like it. That was my first thought anyway.
True lol i didn't think it was the crash course theme at first
you guys are the best of the best
Does the frequency of a standing wave formula work for one end closed pipes as well
the Fn = nF1
this is such an amazing video!
I love these videos although I only understand like 10% of what is being taught. And that's usually the first 20 secs lol
I'll never look at my piano the same way again lol
I just watched this for 8th-grade science class
this is better than doing things like quizziz
You should do a crash course on music in general, history and theory
are you guys going to make any videos on electric charge/force/field, coulombs or gauss laws etc?