1. Riding the Waves Learning Perfect Pitch through the Shapes of Sound
Erick Tello
Bandys High School
Summer Ventures in Science & Math
Visual & Image Processing
July 24, 2008
Appalachian State University
Dr. Rahman Tashakkori

2. Riding the Waves
Musicians need to be able to identify musical notes by ear
Relative pitch recognition requires playing a reference note to identify other notes
Instruments with which to get reference notes aren't always readily available

3. Riding the Waves
Absolute pitch recognition, a.k.a. perfect pitch, identifies notes based on their own qualities
No reference is required
Perfect pitch is much more difficult and time- consuming to learn than relative pitch
Plenty of software designed to assist the perfect pitch learning process is widely available

4. Riding the Waves None of them visualize the sound itself
Sound waves, as viewed on a monitor, are basically visible sounds
They're the building blocks behind the note- lettering system
Thus, when shown alongside the letter of the same note while the note is played, they can greatly assist in memorization

5. Riding the Waves Timbre convolutes the sound waves of instruments
The convoluted sound waves do, however, still have approximately the same overall frequency as their corresponding 'pure' notes
Sound waves from instruments can therefore be used in this method of memorization

6. Riding the Waves Procedures
To test whether the overall frequencies of instrumental notes are recognizable in a visual sound wave, sound samples were taken of a flute, a Steinway piano, and a 12-string acoustic guitar playing sets of given notes
Corresponding pure notes were generated and placed alongside the instrumental notes' sound waves for comparison

7. Riding the Waves Results Inst: Flute Note: C5 Freq: 523.25 Hz
The top 2 waves are the instrument recording in stereo; the bottom is the pure note in mono.

8. Riding the Waves Results Inst: Guitar Note: A4 Freq: 440 Hz
The top 2 waves are the instrument recording in stereo; the bottom is the pure note in mono.

9. Riding the Waves Results Inst: Piano Note: C4 Freq: 261.63 Hz
The top 2 waves are the instrument recording in stereo; the bottom is the pure note in mono.

10. Riding the Waves Results
Despite timbre, a definite repeating wave pattern was found in all samples
The cycles of the repeating wave patterns lined up almost exactly with those of the corresponding pure notes
The beginnings of some notes, such as the instants when guitar strings were plucked, were too convoluted to measure

11. Riding the Waves Conclusions
Instrumental sound waves are easily usable in perfect pitch software
In order to be able to use the entirety of each note, the software can partially smooth waves when necessary

12. Riding the Waves Future Work
To write a complete, high-grade perfect pitch teaching program centered around the use of visual sound waves and with options for adding in any of a wide variety of other relevant visualizations

13. Acknowledgements Dr. Rahman (-noodles) Tashakkori Mr. Jere Miles
He HAS to be part Japanese. He can’t deny it! The name reveals all!!
Mr. Jere Miles
He’s the good guy who secretly manipulates everything from behind the scenes. I just know it.
Ben Asma
Fearsome leader of the Asmatics, a.k.a. ASMA ATTACK!
Also, has the best advice in camp.
Also also, has the best hair in camp.
James Kuo
Project partner, sound sampler, & the best pianist/guitarist/drummer EVAR.