THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC
Every field has its own language for describing what it is and what it does. Music is no exception. Below are common terms used to describe different aspects of music. In addition to their use in music, many of the music terms, such as frequency, are also used in other fields such as engineering concepts related to communication technology. Browse through the questions below and enjoy the hunt for new ideas and terms!
What is Sound?
In science, sound is a vibration that typically moves as an audible wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as air, gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain.
What is Pitch in Music?
In music, the pitch of a note means how high or low the note is. In physics, it is measured in a unit called Hertz. A note that is vibrating at 256 Hz will be caused by sound waves that vibrate at 256 times a second. This will be Middle C on the piano. Not all musical instruments make notes of a certain pitch. Many percussion instruments like drums, triangles and cymbals are instruments used for rhythms. They do not play tunes because they have no definite pitch (although often a definite pitch can just be heard when listening carefully.) Some musicians have a sense of absolute pitch or perfect pitch. This means that they always know what note is being played, even without comparing it to another note. Having a sense of absolute pitch does not necessarily make someone a good musician, although it can be very useful.
What is an Octave in Music?
In music, an octave (Latin: octavus: eighth) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The interval between the first and second harmonics of the harmonic series is an octave. In music notation, notes separated by an octave (or multiple octaves) have the same letter name and are of the same pitch class.
What is a Melody in Music?
A melody is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of pitch and rhythm, while more figuratively, the term can include successions of other musical elements such as tonal color.
What is Harmony in Music?
In music, harmony considers the process by which the composition of individual sounds, or superposition of sounds, is analyzed by hearing. Usually, this means simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches, or chords.
What is Rhythm in Music?
Rhythm is what makes music move and flow. Rhythm is made up of sounds and silences. These sounds and silences are put together to form patterns of sound, which are repeated to create rhythm. A rhythm has a steady beat, but it may also have many different kinds of beats.
What is Improvisation in Music?
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians.
What are the Five Pillars of Hip Hop?
1. MCing - An oral delivery of hip hop, also known as rapping.
2. DJing - An aural form of hip hop, the manipulation of sound to create new music
3. Break Dance -A physical expression of hip hop that utilizes acrobatic and gymnastic dancing.
4. Graffiti - A visual interpretation of hip hop using artwork in public places.
5. Knowledge - Knowledge about hip hop is a mental process that explores the mix of spiritual and political consciousness to empower.
Questions
These are the points covered in The Science of Music: From Jazz to Hip Hop exhibition.
What is Music?
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements.
What is a Scale in Music?
In music, a scale is a set of notes in order of their pitch. If the pitch is ascending, the scale is ascending. If the pitch is descending, the scale is descending. Several scales are the same both ascending, and descending, but this need not be the case. Very often, a scale is defined over an interval (commonly the octave), after which it repeats. The most common scales use intervals of five, six or seven different tones. C major scale. The 8th tone is an octave higher than the first one.
What is a Tone in Music?
A musical tone is characterized by its duration, pitch, intensity (or loudness), and timbre (or quality). The notes used in music can be more complex than musical tones, as they may include a periodic aspects, such as attack transients, vibrato, and envelope modulation.
What is Timbre in Music?
In music, timbre, also known as tone color or tone quality) is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. ... In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound have a different sound from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness.
What is a Chord in Music?
A chord, in music, is any harmonic set of pitches consisting of three or more notes that are heard as if sounding simultaneously.
What is Jazz in Music?
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. ... Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, poly-rhythms and improvisation. American music developed especially from ragtime and blues and characterized by propulsive syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, and often deliberate distortions of pitch and timbre.
What is Hip Hop in Music?
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop or rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans in the late 1970s. It consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.
Is Sound Music and/or is Music Sound?
Generally speaking, music is sounds organized in time. By the way, with regard to the sciences of sound, there is a distinction between musical notes and noise. ... Noise refers to individual sounds that do not have a regular oscillating waveform, which is to say, among other things, that they have no recognizable pitch. Musical sound, any tone with characteristics such as controlled pitch and timbre. The sounds are produced by instruments in which the periodic vibrations can be controlled by the performer. ... That some sounds are intrinsically musical, while others are not, is an oversimplification.
What is a Note in Music?
In music, a note is a small bit of sound, similar to a syllable in speaking a language. For example: in the first two lines of the song "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are" there are 14 notes: one for each syllable. Confusingly, the word "note" can also mean the pitch of a note (how high or low it is). For example: the whole of the song "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" can be played using six different notes: C, D, E, F, G and A. Nearly all music is made up of notes. Music without notes might be sound effects.
What are Amplitude and Frequency in Music?
There are two main properties of a regular vibration - the amplitude and the frequency - that affect the way it sounds. Amplitude is the size of the vibration, and this determines how loud the sound is. We have already seen that larger vibrations make a louder sound. Amplitude is important when balancing and controlling the loudness of sounds, such as with the volume control on your CD player. It is also the origin of the word amplifier, a device that increases the amplitude of a waveform.
Frequency is the speed of the vibration, and this determines the pitch of the sound. It is only useful or meaningful for musical sounds, where there is a strongly regular waveform.
Frequency is measured as the number of wave cycles that occur in one second. The unit of frequency measurement is Hertz (Hz for short). A frequency of 1 Hz means one wave cycle per second. A frequency of 10 Hz means ten wave cycles per second, where the cycles are much shorter and closer together.
