Composer Profile - Activefolio

What Is Music? 5
characteristics of musical sounds into four main areas: pitch, duration, dynamics, and
timbre. Some of these characteristics can be written down on the musical page, and
others must be addressed separately.
PITCH—How high or low a sound is
Some composers feel that any sound, even silence, can be musical. This is true, yet what
we normally think of as musical sounds tend to be more coherent and “pure” than
everyday sounds such as traffic noise. In any event, all sound, whether musical or not, is
caused by vibrations. Note that vibrations CAUSE sound, but vibrations are not sound.
In order for vibrations to be heard as a sound, they must travel through a medium, such
as air, so that the ear can sense them. The sensation of vibrations by the ear is what we
define as “sound.” Vibrations that cycle at a more or less steady rate are often heard as
musical tones. The slowest rate of vibration that people sense as a musical note is about
20 cycles per second. People with good hearing can sense notes that vibrate as fast as
20,000 cycles per second. The faster the vibrations you hear, the higher the perceived
pitch to your ear. The speed at which a sound vibrates is called the frequency. For
example, a note with a frequency of 400 cycles per second would sound “higher” than
a note that vibrates at 200 cycles per second. In fact, those two notes mentioned above
have a special relationship. Any time two pitches have frequencies that are double or half
of one another, they are said to be octaves. Octaves have a uniquely similar sound that
is very useful in music.
Musical Notation, or how to tell a musician which note to play on the instrument:
In our system of music notation, pitches are represented as notes on a staff. Notes are
circular shapes that are placed on the lines and spaces of the staff. The higher the placement
of a note on the staff, the higher the pitch. In our system of music, pitches are said
to proceed up or down in steps. Sequences of eight notes moving in steps represents a
scale. The steps of the scale are named after letters of the alphabet, from “A” through
“G” (see Figure 1). Notes that are raised in pitch one half step above the natural pitch
have a sharp placed in front (to the left) of the note in music to signify the change (see
Figure 2). Likewise, a natural note that is lowered one half step has a flat placed in front
of the note. To identify a pitch, one must first look at the clef on the left side of the staff.
Figure 1
C# D# F# G# A# C# D#
or or or or or or or
Db Eb Gb Ab Bb Db Eb
C D E F G A B C D E