43
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Accepted
Why do people with perfect pitch perceive tunes not in 440 Hz out of tune?
As someone with absolute pitch and trained in A440 12-tone equal temperament (i.e. the usual) with plenty of vocal music as a backup, I perceive notes that are several cents out of tune as "off" ...
- 12.9k
34
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What is `Roland's pitch` and `Yamaha's pitch`? and How to convert notes to them?
Middle C, the C written below the treble clef and above the bass clef, has MIDI note 60. Conventionally, this note is referred to as C4. However, Yamaha refers to MIDI note 60 (middle C) as C3. ...
- 21.2k
33
votes
Accepted
Why is the clarinet able to play lower notes than the soprano sax?
Both instruments (as well as all single- and double-reeded instruments and all brass instruments) behave as tubes closed at one end. The difference is that saxophone (and all other reeds) are conical, ...
- 22k
25
votes
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What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"
Simple answer - overtones or harmonics. Each sound producing machine (instrument) has the propensity to produce not only the fundamental (first harmonic), but others too. The mix of whichever these ...
- 184k
22
votes
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Why are drums considered non pitched instruments?
A drum is usually considered a non-pitched instrument because it produces a weak fundamental frequency, produces inharmonic overtones, and the pitches it does produce are unrelated to the rest of the ...
- 554
21
votes
What is the reason a given note can have different "sounds"
There's more to an instrument's waveform than the over-riding 'perceived pitch' frequency. There's lots of other frequencies mixed in there.
And apart from the sustain portion of a musical note (...
- 85.4k
20
votes
Do out of tune singers hear that they're off?
This is all a bit stream of consciousness... hope I didn't drift too far from the plot ;-)
People who sing out of tune rarely sing consistently out of tune.
People who really cannot sing tend also ...
- 25.3k
20
votes
Accurately recalling the key - can everyone do it?
Most people can't do it.
Absolute pitch reference [perfect pitch] is quite rare - just as rare as people who 'couldn't carry a tune in a bucket'.
Pitch reference, the same as most skills, is on a ...
- 25.3k
19
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Accepted
Does striking the string with more force produce higher pitch?
Briefly, yes, a harder picked note gives a higher pitch.
The reason for this is that picking harder stretches the string further, and a stretched string has higher tension, and therefore higher pitch....
- 36.7k
19
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Why do people with perfect pitch perceive tunes not in 440 Hz out of tune?
I don't think I agree with what you have been told.
Perfect pitch is the ability to memorize, and recall, pitches. Now just because you can do it doesn't mean that you always actually do it.
If ...
- 4,951
17
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Accepted
Accurately recalling the key - can everyone do it?
Not many people can actually sing acapella in the key required.(Without being given a start note/chord). They may well sing the tune, in a different key (maybe +/- a m3) but to actually sing in the ...
- 184k
16
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Perfect pitch on only one instrument?
You might be listening to the timbre of the different notes. I remember watching this video , where the person describes learning perfect pitch from the timbre of the instrument. His process is to ...
- 1,685
16
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If you don't use Solfège, how do you read & memorize music-- what goes through your mind?
Solfege - unprofessional? Not at all. I have been working with French musos who only think, speak and play using solfege! But it gets worse! They use fixed do, not like some of us are used to, movable ...
- 184k
15
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Accepted
Do musical instruments pitched at different frequencies play different notes when compared to each other?
I don't understand what you mean by 'pitched at'. Most instruments will use A=440Hz as a reference point, and that's how each and every orchestral instrument gets to be in tune with the rest.
A flute ...
- 184k
15
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Accepted
Is the pitch-producing mechanism for singing and humming the same or entirely different?
You can try this for yourself. Sing a note, to any vowel sound (try them all) and whilst doing so, close your lips. Now you're humming that same note. Feel any difference? Probably not, because the ...
- 184k
15
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What is the best METHOD in acquiring perfect pitch?
Factual answer - if you don't already have perfect (absolute) pitch, there's a darned good chance you never will.
Absolute pitch is the ability to hear any sound and recognise its pitch - either in ...
- 184k
14
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Do musical instruments pitched at different frequencies play different notes when compared to each other?
I think that your attempt at "understanding how the pitch affects the note" needs an answer with a deeper root than has been given. This is slightly mathematical, but rather necessary.
First, let's ...
- 1,683
13
votes
Accurately recalling the key - can everyone do it?
Even studies on the Levitin Effect, a phenomenon that posits that people can tend to accurately recall the key of a familiar melody, discover that at least a significant minority of people cannot ...
- 12.9k
12
votes
Accepted
"∞-TET": Is there music that doesn't use discretely pitched notes?
A trivial answer : yes. When I was quite young I wrote a computer program to spit out a succession of 'beeps' at random frequencies not related to any musical scale; I suspect many people who have a ...
- 45.7k
12
votes
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Can there be intermediate musical pitches between semitones?
Absolutely there are pitches in between. Technically, there are an infinite number of pitches in between each two successive semitones. In practice, quarter tones have been used more than most other ...
- 53.7k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between perfect pitch, pitch memorization and relative pitch?
Perfect (or absolute) pitch is the ability to instantly recognize a note or to instantly produce the sound of a requested pitch. Someone with absolute pitch can immediately sing for you a D♭, or they ...
- 83.1k
12
votes
Is the pitch-producing mechanism for singing and humming the same or entirely different?
As Tim suggested, here is some additional information. His answer, by the way, is (sorry in advance) pitch-perfect.
While the fundamental pitch depends only on the vocal cords, the overtones and ...
- 14.7k
11
votes
Why do people with perfect pitch perceive tunes not in 440 Hz out of tune?
The 440Hz reference point is a convention, but it's very consistently used. This means that if you can sense it, you will likely form your entire understanding of harmony and music with this included ...
- 508
11
votes
Accepted
When I play G, why does it come out as F on bass clarinet?
The bass clarinet is a transposing instrument: the Bb bass clarinet sounds a full major 9th below what is written for its sheet music. For example, that written G in the OP sounds like the F in the ...
- 12.9k
11
votes
Accepted
guitar tuning - note shifts after striking it
I don't know the precise physics of this, but it's an expected phenomenon, especially on heavier strings.
When you first strike the string hard, the amount of displacement in the vibration from '...
- 25.3k
11
votes
What is the best METHOD in acquiring perfect pitch?
Since perfect pitch is something acquired when the brain is still very plastic the first thing you need to do is get a time machine to take you back to when you were a baby. Next find a way to ...
- 5,562
11
votes
What is the point of notes lower than human hearing
We hear with our ears, but other body parts are susceptible to vibrations.
The percussionist/drummer Evelyn Glennie is profoundly deaf, and apparently uses her bare feet to detect vibrations - which ...
- 184k
11
votes
What determines a Note?
Historically, two pitches whose frequencies are in a 2:1 ratio (or 4:1, or 8:1, etc.) are considered "the same". This is known as octave equivalence, and it based on how well frequencies in ...
- 71.5k
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