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The sounding board or soundboard is the part of a string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
 that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the air, greatly increasing the loudness
Loudness

Loudness is the quality of a sound that is the primary psychological correlate of physical strength .Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures of sound pressure such as decibels or sound intensity....
 of sound over that of the string alone.

The sounding board operates by the principal of forced vibration
Vibration

Vibration refers to mechanical oscillations about an equilibrium point. The oscillations may be periodic function such as the motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road....
; the board is gently vibrated by the string, and despite their differences in size and composition, the board will be "forced" to vibrate at the exact same frequency, producing the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre
Timbre

In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments....
.






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The sounding board or soundboard is the part of a string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
 that transmits the vibrations of the strings to the air, greatly increasing the loudness
Loudness

Loudness is the quality of a sound that is the primary psychological correlate of physical strength .Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures of sound pressure such as decibels or sound intensity....
 of sound over that of the string alone.

The sounding board operates by the principal of forced vibration
Vibration

Vibration refers to mechanical oscillations about an equilibrium point. The oscillations may be periodic function such as the motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road....
; the board is gently vibrated by the string, and despite their differences in size and composition, the board will be "forced" to vibrate at the exact same frequency, producing the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre
Timbre

In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments....
. Although the same amount of energy is transmitted with or without the board present, the sounding board, due to its greater surface area, is more readily able to transform this energy into sound. In other words, the sounding board can move a much greater volume of air, therefore producing a louder sound.

Sounding boards are traditionally made of wood (see tonewood
Tonewood

Tonewood is the term generally used to designate wood with recognized and consistent acoustic qualities when used in the making of musical instruments....
), though other materials can be used, such as skin or plastic on instruments in the banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
 family. Wood sounding boards typically have sound hole
Sound hole

A sound hole is an opening in the upper sounding board of a string instrument musical instrument.The sound holes can have different shapes: round in flat-top guitars, f-holes in instruments from the violin family or viol families and in arched-top guitars, rosette s in lutes....
s in them with different shapes depending on the instrument: round in guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
s, f-holes in violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
 family instruments, rosette
Rosette

Rosette can refer to:*Rosette , a small flower design, especially used in antiquity*Rosette , a small circular device that can be awarded with medals...
s in lute
Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s, and so on.

The sounding boards of some instruments have unique names, such as plate, or belly (the latter in a violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
).

In a grand piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
, the sounding board is a large horizontal plate at the bottom of the case. In an upright piano, the sounding board is a large vertical plate at the back of the instrument. The harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
 has a sounding board below the strings.

More generally, any hard surface can act as a sounding board. An example is when a tuning fork
Tuning fork

A tuning fork is an Musical acoustics resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the Tine formed from a U-shaped bar of Elastic deformation metal ....
 is struck and placed against a table top to amplify its sound.

See also

  • Piano
    Piano

    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
  • Piano acoustics
    Piano acoustics

    Piano acoustics are those physical properties of the piano which affect its acoustics....


Other meanings

  • Sounding board is also a term used to describe a person or a team who are used as a type of bounceback, allowing the person talking to see how their ideas sound. The person acting as sounding board is not really expected to give their own opinion, but simply to react to what is being said