Author: Janna Hinchliff

It is often stated that children that learn a musical instrument are able to progress more quickly at school. I’ve often wondered if there is any truth behind this, or whether it’s just speculation. I did some reading of the research that has been done on the subject and put together some notes on what I found out.

When you play a woodwind instrument, you use your lungs a lot more than the average person. I have always been curious about what effect this could have on the lungs, good or bad. It is often said that wind musicians generally have a greater lung capacity than other people, but is this true, and could there be other effects on the lungs? I’ve had a look into this and have found out some interesting information.

There are quite a few different materials that metal instruments can be made from. If you buy an instrument made from a more expensive metal, it will cost more money. It can be difficult to tell whether instruments made from more expensive metals are actually better, or whether it’s just a money-making scheme. I wanted to find this out so I looked into the physics of what is different when sound waves propagate through different materials to see whether there is a real difference in sound quality.

You might notice when you’re playing in a band that certain sounds carry better than others. You’ll often hear the high notes standing out over the rest of the band. On the other hand, if you’re living near someone who plays really loud music, the bit you usually hear is the bass. I’ve often wondered whether the pitch of the note has an impact on its volume so I decided to look into it in more detail.