PSYC2274 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Absolute Pitch, Musical Tone, Fundamental Frequency
What type of sounds are music and speech?
- Music and speech are complex sounds, as opposed to pure tone sounds, which are quite
rare in our environment! Most of the sounds we hear are complex and made up of many
different harmonics.
How are music and speech different from other sounds in our environment?
- Music and speech serve to communicate a point. They are both created with perceivers in
mind, and those perceivers are us! They can also convey emotions or deeper meanings.
What is one of the most important characteristics of an acoustic signal?
- The frequency.
What is pitch?
- The pitch of sound is the psychological aspect of it related to the perceived frequency.
What is an octave?
- This is when a periodic sound is double the frequency of another. They are exactly one
octave apart! However, C4 and C5 sound much more similar than C4 and D4, meaning
that there is more to musical pitch than just frequency.
Describe pitch in 2 dimensions:
- Tone height and tone chroma
What is a chord?
- A chord is a rich, complex sound. It is usually the combination of 3 or more musical
notes with different pitches played at the same time.
Name the two major chord distinctions and describe them:
- Consonant chord: this is the more pleasing chord. It contains combinations of notes
where the ratios between the note frequencies are simple. For instance, and octave is 2:1,
and a perfect fifth is 3:2.
- Dissonant chord: this one is defined by a much less pleasing ratio of notes. For instance,
a minor second is 16:15.
What are some cultural differences in regards to pitch?
- Some languages, such as Chinese, uses changes in voice pitch (fundamental frequency) to
distinguish different words. Because of this, language may affect the types of musical
scales some cultures use. Asian music contains a lot of pitch changes, and they are large
and occur more often than American music pitch changes do.
What is ‘absolute pitch’?
- This is more commonly known as ‘perfect pitch,’ which is the highly rare ability to very
accurately name of produce notes in isolation and without comparison to other notes.
This ability seems to have a genetic component to it, so one could argue that it is innate.
However, the general consensus is that it is an ability acquired by experience, but that
experience must come at a young age.
How do we see music and emotion in everyday life?
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Document Summary
Music and speech are complex sounds, as opposed to pure tone sounds, which are quite rare in our environment! Most of the sounds we hear are complex and made up of many different harmonics. Music and speech serve to communicate a point. They are both created with perceivers in mind, and those perceivers are us! They can also convey emotions or deeper meanings. The pitch of sound is the psychological aspect of it related to the perceived frequency. This is when a periodic sound is double the frequency of another. However, c4 and c5 sound much more similar than c4 and d4, meaning that there is more to musical pitch than just frequency. A chord is a rich, complex sound. It is usually the combination of 3 or more musical notes with different pitches played at the same time. Name the two major chord distinctions and describe them: Consonant chord: this is the more pleasing chord.
