2. Exam 1 February 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 Moodle testing centre

3. Pitch and Music

4. Pitch Pitch is the subjective perception of frequency time -> Air Pressure Period - amount of time for one cycle Frequency - number of cycles per second (1/Period)

5. Height and Chroma Tone Height is the percept of pitch (how high or low) Tone Chroma is the subjective impression of what a tone sounds like 400Hz and 500Hz have more similar tone height than 400Hz and 800Hz, but dissimilar chroma 400Hz and 800Hz have identical chroma 400 hz 500 Hz 800 Hz

6. Chroma Tones that have the same Chroma are octaves apart

7. Chroma chroma is best represented as a helix chroma repeats every octave tones with the same chroma are above or below each other on a helix

8. Chroma Octaves are equally spaced on the basilar membrane

9. Pure Tones are Very Rare in Nature! What are real sounds composed of?

10. Pure Tones are Very Rare in Nature! What are real sounds composed of? Virtually all sounds are composed of several (or many) frequencies all going at once

11. Pure Tones are Very Rare in Nature! What are real sounds composed of? Virtually all sounds are composed of several (or many) frequencies all going at once “Extra” frequencies are called harmonics

12. What are harmonics? position up down imagine a guitar string:

13. What are harmonics? position up down imagine a guitar string:

14. What are harmonics? time -> position up down But more than one frequency can “fit” between the end points

15. What are harmonics? time -> position up down f0f0 f1f1 f2f2 In fact many frequencies can be superposed.

16. Properties of a Sound Wave A 1 second, 1 Hz sound wave:

17. Properties of a Sound Wave A 1 second, 2 Hz sound wave:

18. Properties of a Sound Wave A 1 second, 3 Hz sound wave:

19. Properties of a Sound Wave Sounds superpose (they add together)

20. Harmonics When several frequencies are present in the same sound, it is said to have harmonics or overtones Real sounds, like notes from musical instruments, are complex waves composed of many harmonics

24. Harmonics Harmonics impart a perceptual quality called timbre to a sound

25. Timbre (pronounced like: Tamber) Pronounciation of “timbre”

26. Timbre the characteristic of a particular set of harmonics is called timbre –e.g. the set of harmonics generated when a particular key is pressed on a piano timbre is one reason why we can tell the difference between the same notes played on difference instruments

27. Timbre Although any musical “note” is a superposition of harmonics, you still hear it as a single pitch (you hear its tone height) The pitch that you hear is (usually) the fundamental frequency (except in the artificial case of the “missing fundamental”)

28. Harmonics If most sounds are made of several frequencies, then which sound determines the pitch that you hear?

29. Harmonics If most sounds are made of several frequencies, then which sound determines the pitch that you hear? Typically you hear the lowest frequency component as the “pitch” of a complex wave

30. Harmonics The lowest frequency is called the fundamental

31. The Missing Fundamental Your brain so likes to track the fundamental of a set of harmonics that it will perceptually fill it in even when it is absent missing fundamental

32. Musical Intervals in music, notes are played together or in quick succession pairs of notes share a relationship called an interval

33. Consonance and Dissonance Consonance is the degree to which two tones played together sound “good” Dissonance is the opposite