PSYC2274 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Absolute Pitch, Fundamental Frequency, Auditory Cortex
1
- Music and speech are honestly just a bunch of very complex sounds (as opposed to pure
sounds/tones, which are VERY rare!)
- But, music and speech are different from the other sounds in our environment in a few
ways:
- They serve to communicate a point
- They are created with perceivers in mind → US!
- They can convey emotion and deeper meanings
- Going off of this point…music has been used as a way to express yourself and influence
the thoughts and emotions of others for a LONG TIME!
So…a bit of review:
- The frequency of an acoustic signal is one of its most important characteristics
Now for the new info:
- The pitch of sound is basically the psychological aspect of it related to the perceived
frequency.
- The octave is when a periodic sound is double the frequency of another. They are an
octave apart!
- But…there is much more to musical pitch than just frequency.
- C4 and C5 sound MUCH more similar than C4 and D4, even though C4 and D4
are a lot more similar in frequency…
- Pitch has two described dimensions, tone height and tone chroma.
- A chord is a rich, complex sound, usually a combination of three or more musical notes
with the different pitches played at the same time.
- The major distinction between chords is whether it is consonant or dissonant.
- The consonant chord is MUCH more pleasing!
- It contains combinations of notes where the ratios between the note frequencies
are simple.
- Ex. octave (2:1), perfect fifth (3:2), etc.
- The dissonant chord is defined by much less pleasing ratios of notes.
- Ex. minor second (16:15), etc.
- Thus, a chord is defined by the ratios of the note frequencies combined to produce them.
How about some cultural differences?
- Speakers of tone languages, such as the Chinese languages, use changes in voice pitch
(fundamental frequency) to distinguish different words.
- Because of this, language may affect the types of musical scales some cultures use.
- For instance, Asian music contains a lot of pitch changes, and they are large and occur
more often than American pitch changes in music.
What about absolute pitch/ “perfect pitch”?
- Well, perfect pitch is the highly rare ability to very accurately name or produce notes
WITHOUT the comparison to other notes → thus, they do so in isolation.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Music and speech are honestly just a bunch of very complex sounds (as opposed to pure sounds/tones, which are very rare!) But, music and speech are different from the other sounds in our environment in a few ways: They are created with perceivers in mind us! They can convey emotion and deeper meanings. Going off of this point music has been used as a way to express yourself and influence the thoughts and emotions of others for a long time! The frequency of an acoustic signal is one of its most important characteristics. The pitch of sound is basically the psychological aspect of it related to the perceived frequency. The octave is when a periodic sound is double the frequency of another. But there is much more to musical pitch than just frequency. C4 and c5 sound much more similar than c4 and d4, even though c4 and d4 are a lot more similar in frequency .
