THE MATERIALS OF MUSIC: SOUND AND TIME
WHAT IS SOUND? The sensation perceived by the organ of hearing (ear) when vibrations (sound waves) reach the ear
VIBRATION Periodic motion of a substance Instruments: strings, sounding boards, etc. AND the air inside and around the instrument vibrate
COMPRESSION AND RAREFACTION -Happens when you activate the sound source
FREQUENCY Refers to the number of compression-rarefaction cycles that occur per second Human range: 20 to 20,000 cycles per second Video
FOUR PROPERTIES OF SOUND Pitch – how high or low a sound is Intensity – how loud or soft a sound is Duration – how long or short a sound is Timbre – quality or color of a sound
PITCH The greater the number of sound waves, the higher the pitch TONE – a musical sound of definite pitch
INTENSITY (DYMANICS)
DURATION (METER AND RHYTHM) METER = Regularly recurring pulses of equal duration (STEADY BEAT) FORMS MEASURES DUPLE = Two-beat TRIPLE = Three-beat RHYTHM = Patterns of uneven durations Can be almost any length
TIMBRE Permits us to distinguish between a clarinet and an oboe, for instance e_instrument_sounds/quiz.html e_instrument_sounds/quiz.html