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Discovery: How do instruments make music?

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1-25 Wind instruments, 26-34 percussion instruments, Egypt, engraving by Duhamel.

13/05/2019 GMT

How do instruments make music?

BBC World Service - Discovery, How do instruments make music?

1/6 Why do different musical instruments sound unique?

1/6 Why do different musical instruments sound unique? From saxophones to pianos, Rutherford and Fry investigate the science behind musical sounds.

1/6 "We play many musical instruments in our family. Lots of them produce the same pitch of notes, but the instruments all sound different. Why is this?" asks Natasha Cook aged 11, and her Dad Jeremy from Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

In this new series of The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry, Hannah and Adam are joined by the Curious Cases band - Matt Chandler and Wayne Urquhart - to play with today's question.

Bringing the science we have acoustic engineer and saxophone player Trevor Cox. Plus materials expert Zoe Laughlin demonstrates a selection of her unusual musical creations, including a lead bugle, a glass bell and a spruce tuning fork.

Presenters: Adam Rutherford, Hannah Fry
Producer: Michelle Martin

Main image:   1-25 Wind instruments, 26-34 percussion instruments, Egypt, engraving by Duhamel from Description of Egypt, or the collection of observations and researches which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French Army), Etat moderne, Planches, Volume II, Plate PlCC, Imprimerie Imperiale, 1817, Paris.  Credit:  De Agostini Editorial / Getty Images

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