Question:
hey im in the percussion ensamble at ayala high school and our pit instructor was talking to us about theory and he said something about the atmosphear having acoustics and when you play a note the atmosphere will play other notes in harmony with the note you just played like if you play a c then the atmosphere will play the fith and th forth and something like that can some one please explain this to me because i didnt really understand it...
Answer:
I've never heard of the atmosphere doing anything sympathetically...you can play certain intervals together and hear Resultant Tones, which are basically the overtones/undertones adding together to become more audible.
Answer:
Originally Posted by LWatford I've never heard of the atmosphere doing anything sympathetically
Neither have I. That would be weird.
I guess it's theoretically possible that somehow your amphitheater (I'm assuming he was talking about playing outside in a stadium or something like that?) or concert hall (if he was just really stupid about the overtone series and/or trying to dumb it down for you) might somehow amplify the overtones present in any given note that you play. I mean, they're all there, technically, in varying amplitudes whenever you play any note, right? Who's to say that a particular depth of a concert hall might not reflect a low wave length at just the right spot to somehow double the wave and produce a louder amplitude of the 2nd or 3rd partial or something?
Still, it would be odd.
In His love,
Nate
Answer:
Originally Posted by LWatford I've never heard of the atmosphere doing anything sympathetically...you can play certain intervals together and hear Resultant Tones, which are basically the overtones/undertones adding together to become more audible.
thats it thank you overtones is what he said but im not sure what that is could someone explain
?
Answer:
The overtone series is basically the way that musical sound works.
Musical pitches (in terms of the frequencies of their soundwaves) are [naturally supposed to be] related to each other by certain mathematical ratios. These ratios get closer to 1/1 as the intervals between notes get smaller. The octave is [supposed to be] a 2/1 ratio between the frequency of the higher note and the frequency of the lower note. The perfect fifth is a 3/2 ratio; the fourth a 4/3 ratio; the major third a 5/4 ratio; the minor third either a 6/5 or 7/6 ratio; the major second either an 8/7 or 9/8 ratio; the minor second a 10/9 ratio; and the series basically goes on from there to infinity, with many microtonal intervals continuing upwards at ratios that approach 1/1. This is what nature prescribes as the relationship between musical pitches. (note: instruments are not usually tuned to these exact relationships, however, because so doing makes each individual key [depending on what fundamental note you tune to] sound different; we usually compromise and tune the octave perfectly, and then divide the twelve half-steps within the octave equally [which is different from what nature prescribes], thus, the name equal temperament given to this compromised tuning system, since the half-steps are all equal). These ratios produce a series of notes, called the "overtone series," built upwards on any given musical pitch. If you start on C, for example, you'll get C-C-G-C-E-G-B(b)-C-D-E-etc. The lowest note is called the "fundamental" of that particular overtone series, and each of the other notes are called "partials" or "harmonics." The series is usually numbered, starting with the fundamental, and starting at 1 if you're using the term "partials" or at 0 if you're using the term "harmonics."
Because of the nature of most sound waves (pure, or close to pure, sine waves, like the flute or the human whistle, are really the only exception), whenever you play one note (the note you play is called the "fundamental"), you will not only hear the note you play, but also hints of every other note in the overtone series. I can't really explain how this works, because I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it has something to do with the idea of sympathetic resonance (which I'll discuss shortly), in that no vibrating body ever truly causes only one frequency of vibration. Each instrument produces the other overtones (past the fundamental in the overtone series, that is) in varying degrees of loudness (i.e. "amplitude"), and that mix of overtones is what gives each instrument its characteristic sound (i.e. "timbre").
Here's where what your instructor was talking about comes in. There are ways of changing the amplitudes of each of the overtones produced by any given note that you play. It's easiest to see this in action on a piano [if you have access to one]. If you press down the sustain pedal (the pedal on the far right), then press down and hold some of the notes of the overtone series (just a C, G, C within the same octave will work) silently (don't make sound when you press these notes down), and then bang out the fundamental note in the overtone series of the notes you've pressed down (that is, the note that would be the lowest note in an overtone series that included the notes you've pressed down), you will hear the notes you've held down resonate as the overtones produced by the fundamental you banged out cause the strings you've released the dampers on (by pressing down the keys) to vibrate. This is called "sympathetic resonance," and basically just means that the overtones created by the original sound-creating vibrating body are causing some other vibrating body (or bodies) to create sound, thereby amplifying certain frequencies within the overtone series. There are other ways that you can amplify certain overtones, though, including the act of playing "harmonics" on guitar (this amplifies only the particular harmonic that you play, and basically makes every other note in the overtone series [including the fundamental] inaudible). The phenomenon of feedback in a PA system is also [loosely] based on the overtone series, which is why the feedbacking sound usually starts low and then becomes higher in pitch as the feedback gets louder. What happens is that the original soundwave doubles back on itself, which causes particular notes in the overtone series [starting with the lowest ones] to be amplified; as this continues to happen, the notes amplified will become higher and higher in the overtone series (to infinity) until you just hear a huge screeching white noise.
What your instructor seems to be alleging is that a natural space (such as an outdoor amphitheatre / stadium) will somehow act to amplify certain overtones when any given fundamental is played. This is theoretically possible. If the low-frequency soundwaves of the fundamental note are somehow reflected and doubled-back on themselves (just like they are in the case of a PA system feedback), it is possible that the reflecting soundwaves will somehow interact with the original soundwaves in such a way as to amplify certain overtones. It is likely that the lowest members of the overtone series (the octave, fifth, and fourth) would be most apt to be affected by such a phenomenon. If this were to happen, though, it would not be likely to be very noticeable at all, unless you happened to be in a setting that somehow was tuned perfectly to a particular key or set of fundamentals.
Lee's mention of resultant tones is interesting, but that's an entirely new topic, and I'm probably already getting jumbled enough.
Rest assured, this topic is not quite as confusing as I'm sure I've made it out ot be... it's just very hard to explain to someone who hasn't heard of it / had experience with it before. Feel free to ask for clarification on any point.
In His love,
Nate
Answer:
oh, this is fun stuff!!! i remember going through this in physics. i have a book or two just on physics and music. it's a bit complicated at first, but very interesting. good luck!
Answer:
What are the books entitled that you have on physics and music? I've got one that's called something like "The Physics Of Musical Sound." It's a pretty nifty book, but full of complicated things that I don't remember how to decipher anymore. Heh.
In His love,
Nate
Answer:
Originally Posted by Nate What are the books entitled that you have on physics and music? I've got one that's called something like "The Physics Of Musical Sound." It's a pretty nifty book, but full of complicated things that I don't remember how to decipher anymore. Heh.
In His love,
Nate
nate,
the books i spoke of are Science and Music, by Sir James Jeans (Dover Pub.) and Music, Physics and Engineering -- formerly titled Musical Engineering --, by Harry F. Olson (Dover Pub.).
peace,
chris
Answer:
Fascinating. I'll keep them in mind for the next time I have some money itching to be blown at the bookstore.