The 4 Parameters of Sound

1
The 4 Parameters of Sound

• Pitch the frequency of vibration (heard as
  high vs. low)
• Duration the length of time a sound lasts
  (heard as aspects of rhythm)
• Timbre tone color (the source of the sound,
  i.e., instrument, voice, other)
• Dynamics Loudness/Softness

2
RHYTHM

• From a Greek word (rhythmos) that means flow
• Refers to all temporal (durational) elements in a
  piece of music
• The organization of time in music, dividing up
  long spans of time into smaller, more easily
  comprehended units (Craig Wright textbook
  glossary)

3
Some Terms related to Rhythm

• Beat
• Accent
• Meter (duple, triple) (simple, compound)
• Measure
• Tempo
• Syncopation
• Polyrhythm (Polymeters)

4
PITCH

• Function of frequency (how many vibrations per
  second)
• Usually described as high or low
• Individual sound sometimes called a note (from
  the written symbol for a single sound)
• Range of human hearing 20 20,000 Hz

5
Some Useful Terms related to Pitch

• Interval distance between 2 pitches
• Octave 21 ratio of frequency
• Tonality organization around home pitch
• Tonic the home pitch
• Key collection of pitches around a tonal center
• Scale set of pitches in ascending and
  descending order (scala Ital. ladder)

6
Piano Keyboard Great Staff
7
One Chromatic Octave
8
Scale types

• Use only 7 of 12 available pitches
• Series of whole and half steps
• Major W-W-1/2-W-W-W-1/2(sounds bright,
  cheery, optimistic)
• Minor W-1/2-W-W-1/2-W-W(sounds dark,
  somber, sinister)
• Diatonic (major or minor)
• Chromatic (uses all 12 notes)

9
MELODY

• Three elements to its definition
• Succession of (elements follow one another in
  time)
• Single Pitches (only one sound at a time)
• Heard as a coherent idea (the melody makes
  musical sense as a single thought, i.e., like a
  sentence)

10
Describing Melodies

• Range (lowest to highest notes)- wide vs. narrow
• Shape (direction from note to note)- ascending,
  descending, jagged, etc.
• Movement (how do you get from one note to the
  next) - conjunct vs. disjunct