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Resonance and Sound…Physics and Music Since sound is the medium of music, most of the physics of music is the physics of sound. It's important to remember that sound waves are compression waves. You can imitate a compression wave by stretching out a slinky (you do have a slinky, don't you?) and flicking your finger against a coil at the end. Sound waves are not like the waves on the ocean or the waves …

…air (yes, water or Jell-O) that gets moved with each pulse of pressure. Without going far into the physiology of it, you hear sounds when the pulses of compressed air of sound waves excite your eardrum, which excites your inner ear, which sends signals to your brain, which makes you dance, dance, dance! In general, you perceive the frequency of the wave as a particular pitch. You perceive the amplitude of the wave as loudness.