Alittlemusictheory(mostlynotation,names,…and.ppt

Perfect third : f2/f1 = 5/4=1.25 Perfect third : f2/f1 = 81/64 = 1.265… Can you hear the bad Pythagorean thirds ? A little music theory (mostly notation, names, …and temperament) Physical: It has nothing to do with human beings. Ex: beating Psychophysical, psychological: human anatomy. Ex: fundamental tracking Cultural: society dependent. Ex: appreciation of Beattles songs Nature or nurture Doubling the frequency feels like the same pitch (pitch periodicity) f and its harmonics: f, 2f, 3f, 4f, … 2f and its harmonics: 2f, 4f, 6f, … This is not a cultural phenomena, it seems to be present in any musical culture. In Western music the pitch range from f to 2f is split in 12 steps (entirely cultural) f f0 2 f0 C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, E#, Fb, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B or do, do#/re b, re, re#/mi b, mi, mi#/fa b, fa, fa#, sol, sol#/la b, la, la#/sib, si C E D F G A B C# D# F# G# A# C . . . . . . C2 C3 C4 This has changed historically but now it’s standard to take: A4 = 440 Hz So A5 = 880 Hz, A3 = 220 Hz, … For the intermediate notes the whole thing is more contentious (we’ll discuss temperament later) higher What about the #’s and b’s ? C# Ab What about the duration of notes ? half half Measure time in beats four beats in a measure this will count as one beat slightly more complex several instruments Consonance and dissonance [Let us play some intervals and find what makes them consonant or dissonant] C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C minor 2nd major 2nd minor 3rd major 3rd 4th tritone 5th minor 6th major 6th minor 7th major 7th ratio of frequencies = ratio of small integers consonance Examples: 1/1 unison 2/1 octave = 7 tones 3/2 fifth = 3 ? tones (actually 1.4983) 4/3 fourth = 2 ? tones (actually 1.22482) 5/4 major third = 2 tones (actually 1.25991) Consonance/dissonance and the overtone series unison = 0 tones