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Chapter 3 Sounds in harmony（第1页）

Chapter3Soundsinharmony

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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.