COMBINATION TONES The Science of Sound Chapter 8 MUSICAL ACOUSTICS

LINEAR SUPERPOSITION OF TWO SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTIONS AT THE SAME FREQUENCY SAME PHASEOPPOSITE PHASE

SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION AS THE PROJECTION OF POINT P (MOVING IN A CIRCLE)

TWO POINTS P AND Q MOVE WITH THE SAME PERIOD T AND AMPLITUDE A AND MAINTAIN A PHASE DIFFERENCE Φ P – Φ Q

FREQUENCY BUT WITH A PHASE DIFFERENCE Φ B – Φ A = 90º LINEAR SUPERPOSITION OF TWO SHMs WITH THE SAME

TWO TONES WITH FREQUENCIES ƒ 1 AND ƒ 2 : BEATS 32 Primary and secondary beats. Tracks 63-63

THE MUSICAL STAFF: MUSICIAN’S GRAPH PAPER

PROPOSAL FOR THREE NEW CLEFFS (See Appendix A.6)

COMBINATION TONES COMBINATION TONES ON A MUSICAL STAFF 34 Aural combination Tones, Tr 68-69

DIFFERENCE TONES MOST CLEARLY HEARD: DIFFERENCE TONE (f 2 – f 1 ) [TARTINI TONES] CUBIC DIFFERENCE TONE (2f 1 – f 2 ) OTHER DIFFERENCE TONES: (3f 1 – 2f 2 ), 4f 1 —3f 2 ), etc,

DIFFERENCE TONE MELODY

OTHER NONLINEAR EFFECTS AURAL HARMONICS FLETCHER SUGGESTED A SIMPLE POWER LAW FOR EAR RESPONSE x = a 0 + a 1 p + a 2 p 2 + a 3 p 3 +,,, THIS PREDICTS THAT FOR A 1 dB INCREASE IN SIGNAL LEVEL, THE SECOND HARMONIC WILL INCREASE BY 2 dB, THE THIRD BY 3 dB, etc. SUMMATION TONES IF THE EAR HAS A NONLINEAR RESPONSE, ONE MIGHT EXPECT TO HEAR SUMMATION TONES (f 1 + f 2 ) AS WELL AS DIFFERENCE TONES. NO ONE HAS PRESENTED CONVINCING EVIDENCE FOR THEIR EXISTENCE

MODULATION OF ONE TONE (ƒ 2 ) BY ANOTHER (ƒ 1 )

CONSONANCE AND DISSONANCE: MUSICAL INTERVALS PLOMP AND LEVELT: IF THE FREQUENCY DIFFERENCE IS GREATER THAN A CRITICAL BAND, THEY SOUND CONSONANT MAXIMUM DISSONANCE OCCURS WHEN THE DIFFERENCE IS ABOUT ¼ OF A CRITICAL BAND

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HARMONICS OF TWO TONES SEPARATED BY DIFFERENT INTERVALS

CONSONANCE AND DISSONANCE

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF CHORDS

EFFECT OF PHASE ON TIMBRE BUILDING UP COMPLEX TONES WITH THE SAME SPECTRUM OF PARTIALS BUT WITH DIFFERENT PHASES RESULTS IN TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAVEFORMS. DO THEY SOUND DIFFERENT? THE ANSWER IS “SOMETIMES” PLOMP (1970): THE MAXIMUM EFFECT OF PHASE ON TIMBRE IS BETWEEN A COMPLEX TONE IN WHICH THE HARMONICS ARE IN PHASE AND ONE IN WHICH ALTERNATE HARMONICS DIFFER IN PHASE BY 90 O 33 Distortion, Tracks 64-65

BEATS OF MISTUNED CONSONANCES A SENSATION OF BEATS OCCUR WHEN THE FREQUENCIES OF TWO TONES f 1 AND f 2 ARE NEARLY, BUT NOT QUITE, IN A SIMPLE RATIO IF f 2 = 2f 1 + δ, BEATS ARE HEARD AT A FREQUENCY δ. WHEN f 2 = n/m f 1 + δ, mδ BEATS OCCUR. THESE ARE CALLED SECOND ORDER BEATS OR BEATS OF MISTUNED CONSONANCE, AND THEY RESULT IN PERIODIC CHANGES IN PHASE THE EAR, WHICH IS A POOR DETECTOR OF STATIONARY PHASE, APPEARS TO BE SENSITIVE TO CYCLICAL VARIATIONS IN PHASE BEATS OF MISTUNED CONSONANCES HAVE LONG BEEN USED BY PIANO TUNERS TO TUNE FIFTHS, FOURTHS, AND OCTAVES. VIOLINISTS USE THEM TO TUNE THEIR STRINGS 32 Secondary beats, Track 63

PRACTICE PROBLEMS: IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 440 Hz AND 443 Hz ARE SOUNDED TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND? IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 442 Hz AND 330 Hz ARE HEARD TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND?

PRACTICE PROBLEMS: IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 440 Hz AND 443 Hz ARE SOUNDED TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND? SOLUTION: 443 – 440 = 3 Hz IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 442 Hz AND 330 Hz ARE HEARD TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND? SOLUTION: 442 = 4/3(330) + 2, SO mδ = (3)(2) = 6 Hz (THESE ARE BEATS OF A MISTUNED FOURTH)

PRACTICE PROBLEMS: IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 440 Hz AND 443 Hz ARE SOUNDED TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND? SOLUTION: 443 – 440 = 3 Hz IF TONES WITH FREQUENCIES OF 442 Hz AND 330 Hz ARE HEARD TOGETHER, HOW MANY BEATS ARE HEARD EACH SECOND? SOLUTION: 442 = 4/3(330) + 2, SO mδ = (3)(2) = 6 Hz (THESE ARE BEATS OF A MISTUNED FOURTH) Alternate solution: 3 rd harmonic of 442 is 1326 Hz; 4 th harmonic of 330 is 1320; if sounded together, beats would be heard at = 6 Hz

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM AUTOCORRELATION AND CROSS-CORRELATION AUTOCORRELATION IS A COMPARISON OF A PULSE TRAIN WITH PREVIOUS PULSE TRAINS IN ORDER TO PICK OUT REPETITIVE FEATURES (e.g., repetition pitch) CROSS-CORRELATION IS A COMPARISON BETWEEN SIGNALS ON TWO DIFFERENT NERVE FIBERS (e.g., localization of sound) CEREBRAL DOMINANCE THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BRAIN (IN 97% OF THE POPULATION) IS SPECIALIZED FOR SPEECH PROCESSING, AND THE RIGHT SIDE FOR NON-LINGUISTIC FUNCTIONS SUCH AS MUSIC SPEECH PROCESSING REQUIRES ANALYTIC AND SERIAL PROCESSING, MUSICAL PERCEPTION REQUIRES HOLISTIC PROCESSING

A BINAURAL AUDITORY ILLUSION TONES OF 400 AND 800 Hz ALTERNATE IN BOTH EARS IN OPPOSITE PHASE (i.e., when right ears hears 400 Hz, left ear hears 800 Hz). MOST RIGHT-HANDED LISTENERS HEAR THE HIGH TONE IN THEIR RIGHT EAR AND THE LOW TONE IN THEIR LEFT EAR, REGARDLESS OF HOW THE HEADPHONES ARE ORIENTED (even when they are exchanged). LEFT-HANDED LISTENERS, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE JUST AS APT TO HEAR THE HIGH TONE IN THE RIGHT EAR AS IN THE LEFT. THAT IS BECAUSE IN RIGHT-HANDED PEOPLE, THE LEFT HEMISPHERE IS DOMINANT (AND ITS PRIMARY AUDITORY INPUT IS FROM THE RIGHT EAR), WHEREAS IN LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE EITHER HEMISPHERE MAY BE DOMINANT. HIGH TONES ARE PERCEIVED AS BEING HEARD AT THE EAR THAT FEEDS THE DOMINANT HEMISPHERE (Deutsch, “Musical Illusions,” Scientific American, 1975). 36