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