奇书网

Chapter 3 Sounds in harmony（第1页）

Chapter3Soundsinharmony

Whatmakesanote?

&one’athesubjectiveobjeatureofsound:atoneisasouhaparticularfrequenoteisitssubjectiveimpact，articularpitch。

Inadditiontopitotealsohasduratioimbre。Timbreisbyfarthemostimportaifyingiheirsound，andisalsothemaiioisauneasybedfellowwiththefarmoreplicated。Itisabitlikedeffningaperso，weight，aheffrstthreeparameterseachbespetermsofonevalueofasi，butthefulldesofanindividual’sffwouldbehighlyplidmultidimensional。But，likeaffimbreistheonlythioapartistrumentorperson，soit’stheonlythingthatthebrainuseasaiffer。

Aproblemforthebrainwhigerpriiveworryaboutisthattimbreisadynamicquality;ite。Thetimbresofacymbal，pianonote，ordrumallgeradistarttoffnish（thisgeisknownasfiux）。Thetimbreofapartistrumentorspeakeralsogeswithpitdloudness:acello’shighnoteshaveadiflerentqualitytoitslowones，ashoutedwordisnotsimplylouderthanaspokenone，andamaopesoundsmuerthanwhenheissinginglowunately，werelyhlyevolvedabilitytofotheveryffrstsoundsmadebyasourtahis。

&endas

Ourmoderionofmusidourdislikeofnoiseprobablystemfromtheevolutiohatmouldedthehearingsystemsofourdistaheirffrstpriorityasoundwouldhavebee，aimetopowangofab，therumbleofanavalahunderhooveshissofasnakeareoothehearerif（s）hereactfast，andssystemtratesitsanalyticalprowessomomentsofasound。Thishasthesurprisihatthe‘attadsthatamakesifraofased，thoughgenerallydisdnothirumee’souheoeoidentifywhatthatiis。Arecordedpieusiceditedtoremovealltheattadsverystraheiscouldbeanything。Thisfactstymiedformaemptstosyrumentsgly。Oftennotjusttheihepositiontoobeidehised。Thereopularradio（aV）quizshowamethatTune，inwhitestalysuidentifyingtunesfromjustfourorevees。Itisveryeasytooutdothisifoedwithafamiliarreg:evenapreliminaryfumbleorihisenoughtoidentifyit。versely，somemusiediatelyiehefiavourofthewholepiegleayhavea‘Mexid，afewvihtsound‘folksy’，abagpipeskirl‘Scots’，oracoupleofnotes‘ffercesharkapproag’。

Therespoosuchbriefcuesareprimarilyemotioheirinalroleashazardwarnings:theroarofalionortheclickofasafetygreleaseddeliveraevisceralrespadrenaliiht—ht。Infact，ourrefiexrespooanysuddenloudsouhandistoputdistaweenusandit:afeedbackshriekfromaloudspeakerwillliterallymakeusjumpaway。Evenuoussourinsicallyrepellentiftheyareloudehealmostphysicalreluefeelstopassclosebyapicdrill。

Thefiipsidetoourfotheveryffrstpartsofasoundisdisigsoundsthatlastforawhile，leadingtotheseemingparadoxthatauoussoundattvolumewillsouerafewdozensenature，sudsarelikelytobeasharmlessasthebreeze。Butifthatlong-durationsoundshouldsuddenlystop，thesileasatteingaswasitso。

&oflisteningtomusichasresiderableattentionfromasoundstudiesperspective。ThemusicologistandphilosopherPeterSzendy，forexample，arguesthataialpartoflisteningtoapieusiparisonwithotherworks，performers，is—aeoo。Hisviewisthat，sioflisteningtly‘appropriates’sinthisway，theessenceofapieusieverbefullygrasped。

&osing

Musidsarefarmoreimportanttomanyofusthahertypes—somuanyofushardlyrestrainourselvesfrintosoestprovo。Perhapsyouhaveeaioaratherlesserextehi，bysinging‘SomewhereOvertheRainbow’。It’safairbetthatJudyGarlanddiditbetter:buthow?Althoughyourlistenersmayhetuheywillsurelyreizeitbecause，evenifalotoftheheywillatleastgoupanddowninpittherightorder，andvaryihinafamiliar>

Durationsofnotes（as;gapsbetweenedbytheirshapes，anddeffnedasfrasofa‘wholenote’，whichisasemibreve，assho>

&andarddurationforahoughinsomeposerwillprovideoneonanindividualscore:‘fi=66’，forexample，means‘acrotchetlasts166ofaminute’。Usuallyhowever，theonlyindiofthespeed（teically，tempo）atieceshouldbeplayedisaphrase（ofteninItalian）ofvariablehelpfulness，sudaaace’）rononmatroppo（‘fastbutnottoofast’）。Perhapsbecausethepoisnotveryappliaturalsounds，ingit—amateurorprofessioidiflereempoisaboutthebest

Unlessyouareatrainedsinger，oodone，youareprobablysiesslightly‘fiat’（thatis，abitlowerthantheyshouldbe）or‘sharp’（abithigher）。Butwhatdoes‘should’meadoesidoesherthefrequencyofthesoundyoumakewhilesinging‘Some。。。’is300Hzor333Hz。Butyoudoiosofthefreque。So，ifyousing‘Some。。。’at300Hzthenyoumustsing‘。。。where’at600Hz—thatis，ooavoidpeoplewing。

&esas

Itfollowsfromthisthatifyouapaniedyourselfonapianowiththepitches，youwouldalmostlybeoutoftuhei。Asfarasapianistised，‘Some’isanF。ThereareeightFkeysoy-eight-keypiano，andanyofthemmaybeusedhere—ifthefourthFis，thepianowillplayanoteof349Hz。

Ifyoudoffobe‘automatituhapiano，youprobablyhavethatrarething:absolute（or‘perfect’）piteratiesasyourpianoisallthereistohavingabsolutepitch。Ifyouortedbaturies，whenpiauhesamefrequeheyarenow，youwouldofotbeihem。Andifyouattemptedtosinganunapahasiheperioderfectpitch，theresultwouldnotsou。

Yourpiteverthelessbetterthanyour19th-turyfriend’siainsense:ifyoutravelledtwoturiesiure，yourperfectpitateelse’s，butyourfriend’swouldnot。Thatisbe1939，ataLoheIionalStandardsanization，manytriesagreedonparticularfrequenciesforpartiotes。Likemaernatiohisoneonlyhappehesituatioolerablesomesiderabletimebefore。

&rumentmakers，musidposershaddevelelyilyiries，eachhadadoptedtheirpitchesarbitrarily。Ihseveralmusitres，pitvariedfromcityto1780，aBerlihperfectpitchwouldfallsadlyfiatirumpetmadeiywouldbeoutoftuher—aberetuionalaionaltravelamongmusisbeon，

andsucstrumentmakersexpaomerbasesfurtheraffeld，theneedforaionalstandardbecamerapidlymoreappareiheeveof>

Itfolloitotbeanimustbelearned。Andlearheageofsix，usuallybymemallthenotesonamusistrument。Thisis，o，analmostiofmemory，aionskillsarealiemisomearepredisposedtoleartheotherhandthereisahigherfraofpitch-perfesindVietnamthaniheUS，whichmaybeduetothegreaterdepeerhepitchatwhichronounced。

Forthoseofusitch，itisthediflereervals）betweehehemselves，thatwememorize;henceafamiliartuantlyreizedwhetheritisplayedonthedoublebassortheviolin。

hatwedo?

Byfarthemostimportantintervalinmusicistheoctave，theintervalinwhiotehastwicethefrequeheprimacyoftheoctaveisdemohefactthat，ioGnotatioofususetoday，aveapartaregiveer。Todistinguishdiflerentversioe，numericalsubscriptsareusedasrequired（sothefourthFonthepianoisF4）。aveapartareinharmony，andtheimpressionwereohatofauditorypleasantness:ce。Otherthanapairofidentiotes，theoctaveisthemostharmoniousandtintervalofall。

&lywhyharmoniousintervalssoundtishoughwedoknowthatthebraioharmonidswithsyneuralffrings。Thatis，theneuronswhidtoeapoofsudstendtosyheirffriheachother。So，harmoniousintervalsareclearlyimportanttous—butwhydoweffndthempleasant，andinharmonious（dissoobelessso?Actually，thoughwedon’tusuallyenjoydisisolatioesofposersandtheiraudiencesfordissoeadilysiGreeks—infaecouldlookatthehistoryofWesternmusicastheingadoptionofdissonance（whichiswhylisteningtoStravinsky’sRiteorMozart’sDissoisnotasdisturbingasitonevertheless，ifoneranksintervalsbytheirpersoisprettyiofgeographyorhistory。Sothereisthereissomethiiveaboutfact，twothings:

1。Alackhheearreceivestwotoherinfrequency（about5pertdiflerent，ortwoorthreesemitoheyareperceivedasasinglerough-soundingnote。

2。Similaritytoaharmonicseries，whichisasetoftohfrequenciessuchas1kHz，2kHz，3kHz，4kHz，etc。

&es

Musigotrelyonoctavesalone。Forohihearmorethahem。Alssugeisage:violinsandguitarscoveraboutfouroctaves，exansageffveorsix，pianosseve。Furthermore，everytunewouldbenothiharmonies—whieb。

&avehadbeehagorasaaboutaddi，embarkingonalongresearchprojectthatwastolastforwelloverathousahoughPythagorasactuallyusedamonochord，it’ssimplesttothejobwithseveralstringsofvariablelengths，allwiththesametensionandwidthandallmadeofthesamematerial。

&mostharmonioustpairofaveisthatgivenbyapairsinwhiestringis23thelengthoftheother。Threeothersimpleratithsyieldotherfairlynigions，asaresho>