9722031 Giordano The process through which a piano generates musical tones will be investigated using a combination of experimental measurements and theoretical analysis. One goal will be to develop a theoretical model which describes the vibrations of the piano soundboard throughout the musically important frequency range (~ 50 - 104 Hz). Previous work on vibrating strings will be extended and then combined with our soundboard model to produce a theoretical picture of the string-soundboard combination. Due to the complexity of the geometry and the nonlinearities involved, these models will be largely numerical. They will be tested and refined by comparison with detailed experimental studies of real piano soundboards and strings, and these measurements will also be carried out as part of this project. In the final stage of this work they will extend the modeling to calculate the sound produced by their numerical piano. ***
