![]() ![]() Instruction 3 is a half step so you move forward from 5 to 6. Instruction 2 is a also a whole step, so you move to 5. ![]() Instruction 1 is a whole step, so you move forward to 3. Using this single pattern you can form a major scale starting on note 1 as follows: Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half This gives each of the notes a unique sound and gives the ear a hook so that it can tell where it is. Notice that this pattern is asymmetrical. Among the most commonly used in music is the major scale which is defined as the following pattern. Here are a few whole steps:īy using a mixture of these two intervals scales can be built. To solve this problem another interval is used: the whole step, which is simply two half steps in sequence. This cannot be achieved using a scale comprised of just half steps. ![]() Most western music is tonal, it is written to highlight a single note as it's focal point. Rather, music is built by selecting a subset of these notes that sound good together. This 12 note scale is called the 'chromatic scale', and it is rarely used as a whole. These correlate with the 12 keys numbered in the previous diagram of the piano keyboard. Note that the 12 notes are being displayed in a line as it makes things easier to visualise. Note 1 to note 2 is a half step, Note 2 to note 3 is also a half step and so on. The reason is that the distance between any two of these adjacent notes is called a 'half step' or 'semitone', and all semitones sound the same. It is very difficult to tell one note from another. What you may notice is that music formed from all of these notes sounds very 'ghostly' and ungrounded. You can place notes by clicking on the grid, and move them by dragging them. The vertical position corresponds to the 12 different notes. Try using the editor below to make a melody using all 12 notes. Your browser does not support the audio element. You can hear the same pitch played on a collection of instruments with different timbres in the following audio sample: Sounds can have the same pitch, but have a different timbre. Timbre is what makes an ocarina sound like an ocarina, a violin sound like a violin, and a piano sound like a piano. These differences are perceived as tone colour, or timbre. TimbreĪs the frequency of a sound is determined only by its peaks the shape of the wave in between can vary. Notice that all 3 repetitions of the melody have the same musical effect despite differing in pitch. The yellow key is an octave above the green. In the following diagram the blue key sounds a note an octave above (double the frequency) of the red key. Your browser does not support the Web Audio API and/or Canvas API which are required by this tool. When a note sounds in multiple octaves the highest is heard as the melody and the lower ones create a richer tone.ĬG F2 G2 AG | FG A2 G2 C2 | cg f2 g2 ag | fg a2 g2 c2 |Ĭ,G, F,2 G,2 A,G, | F,G, A,2 G,2 C,2 | You can also play a sequence in two or more octaves at the same time. If you pick any key within one octave and play a tune, then play the same sequence from that key in a different octave it will sound like the same tune. This grouping can be identified easily by looking at the black keys, which are grouped into twos and threes. The keyboard simply repeats these same 12 notes from left to right. After note 12, it returns to note 1 an octave higher or double the frequency. Western music divides the octave into 12 notes, 12 sequential white and black keys. This repetition exists on all instruments but is most obvious on the piano keyboard. If the high wave is again doubled, now 4 times the frequency of the first, all 3 are perceived equivalently.īecause of this the notes used in music repeat. Incidentally the phenomenon is not limited to a single doubling. When two notes sound and one is exactly double the frequency of the other the human mind perceives both with the same tone. High points represent pressure fronts and the low points represent the low pressure regions between them.Īll waves have a frequency, the number of peaks or troughs that pass a point in space in 1 second. These waves can be visualised as a graph. When they reach your ears you hear a sound. Waves to travel through the air much like those on the surface of a pond. When you play an ocarina the air entering and leaving the chamber pushes on the air in your environment. Things fall into place once you put them into practice. As you read this apply what you have learned to any instruments you have at your disposal. ![]()
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