THE MATERIALS OF MUSIC: SOUND AND TIME
Jan 18, 2018
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKwpv8mZHRM
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
• http://www.musictechteacher.com/music_quizzes/aq_identify_the_instrument_sounds/quiz.html