On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music |
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a₁ altered b₁ bass cents chord cochlea combinational tones comma compound tone consonance and dissonance consonant corresponding curve D₁ degree diatonic diatonic scale differential tones digitals dissonant duodene E₁ effect enharmonic equal temperament excited Fifth finger fork Fourth give Greek hammer harmonic upper partials harmonium heard Hence higher human voice instruments intervals intonation length lower major scale major Third means meantone meantone temperament melody membrane minor Seventh minor Sixth mode modulation motion musical tones notation number of beats observed Octave perfect perfect Fifths pianoforte pitch numbers played position prime tone produced Prof proper tone Pythagorean quality of tone ratio reed resonance sect Semitone sensation shew shewn simple tones singing sound string subdominant suprà sympathetic vibration tetrachord theory tion tonal tonic triad tube tuned tuning-forks upper partial tones violin voice vowels waves
Popular passages
Page 8 - ... in a second. Our definition of periodic motion then enables us to answer the question proposed as follows : — The sensation of a musical tone is due to a rapid periodic motion of the sonorous body ; the sensation of a noise to non-periodic motions.
Page 19 - But the human voice is still richer, and human speech employs these very qualitative varieties of tone, in order to distinguish different letters. The different vowels, namely, belong to the class of sustained tones which can be used in music, while the character of consonants mainly depends upon brief and transient noises.
Page ii - Illustrations. 2 vols. , crown 8vo. , 3*. 6d. each. CONTENTS. — Vol. I. — The Relation of Natural Science to Science in General — Goethe's Scientific Researches — The Physiological Causes of Harmony in Music — Ice and Glaciers — The Interaction of the Natural Forces — The Recent Progress of the Theory of Vision — The Conservation of Force — The Aim and Progress of Physical Science.
Page 10 - Having thus spoken of the principal division of sound into Noise and Musical Tones, and then described the general motion of the air for these "tones, we pass on to the peculiarities which distinguish such tones one from the other. We are acquainted with three points of difference in musical tones, confining...
Page 33 - Ohm's law, capable of being analysed into a sum of simple pendular vibrations, and to each such single simple vibration corresponds a simple tone, sensible to the ear, and having a pitch determined by the periodic time of the corresponding motion of the air.
Page 192 - When two musical tones are sounded at the same time, their united sound is generally disturbed by the beats of the upper partíais, so that a greater or less part of the whole mass of sound is broken up into pulses of tone, and the joint effect is rough. This relation is called Dissonance. But there are certain determinate ratios between...
Page 8 - Then comes the further question: On what difference in the external means of excitement does the difference between noise and musical tone depend? The normal and usual means of excitement for the human ear is atmospheric vibration. The irregularly alternating sensation of the ear in the case of noises leads us to conclude that for these the vibration of the air must also change irregularly.
Page 250 - ... is only possible when the steps of this motion, their rapidity and their amount, are also exactly measurable by immediate sensible perception. Melodic motion is change of pitch in time. To measure it perfectly, the length of time elapsed, and the distance between the pitches, must be measurITable. This is possible for immediate audition only on condition that the alterations both in time and pitch should proceed by regular and determinate degrees.
Page 251 - ... of the former compound tones, and at the same time we hear nothing that we had not previously heard. Hence the repetition of a melody in the higher Octave is a real repetition of what has been previously heard, not of all of it, but of a...
Page 10 - ... confining ourselves in the first place to such tones as are isolatedly produced by our usual musical instruments, and excluding the simultaneous sounding of the tones of different instruments. Musical tones are distinguished : — 1. By their force or loudness. 2. By their pitch, or relative height. 3. By their quality. It is unnecessary to explain what we mean by the force and pitch of a tone. By the quality of a tone we mean that peculiarity which distinguishes the musical tone of a violin...