sound & hearing question.

sound & hearing question.

by William Cannon -
Number of replies: 1

I had a question regarding this paragraph... not sure where "concert A" is coming from.



WHY DO WE KNOW A CONCERT A PLAYED ON A GUITAR IS THE SAME CONCERT A PLAYED ON A PIANO BUT YET THEY SOUND DIFFERENT TONALLY? ALL PITCHED INSTRUMENTS OR VOICES WHEN PLAYING THE SAME NOTE ALL PRODUCE THE FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY. IN THE GUITAR/PIANO EXAMPLE BOTH INSTRUMENTS ARE PRODUCING A 440 HZ TONE, THIS IS THE BASE TONE. THE DIFFERENCE IN TONAL CHARACTERISTICS IS DUE TO THE DIFFERENT HARMONICS, OVERTONES AND FORMANTS EACH INSTRUMENT PRODUCES.

TYPICAL PITCHED INSTRUMENTS ARE DESIGNED TO EMPHASIZE HARMONICS. OTHER PITCHED INSTRUMENTS, ESPECIALLY CERTAIN PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS, SUCH AS MARIMBA, VIBRAPHONE, TUBULAR BELLS, AND TIMPANI, CONTAIN OVERTONES, YET GIVE THE EAR A GOOD SENSE OF PITCH. NON-PITCHED, OR INDEFINITE-PITCHED INSTRUMENTS, SUCH AS CYMBALS, GONGS, OR TAM-TAMS MAKE SOUNDS RICH IN OVERTONES.



In reply to William Cannon

Re: sound & hearing question.

by Michael Scott -
I'm not sure if this answers your question, but concert A (A in the 4th octave on a piano) is the standard for tuning across most concert bands and orchestras. but that frequency of what Concert A meant used to vary from region to region. Adam Neely has an amazing video on the history of that when he made a video debunking the myths surrounding A = 432Hz.