Music Theory 101 #1: The Basics of Sound

Hello everyone and welcome back to not only the newest episode on ASMTB but to the first episode of my new music theory lessons series.  As I had mentioned in the announcements post at the beginning of the month, I have been planning a lot of new changed from feedback I have received saying some things need to be simplified. Being a person who tends to over think things, I have been thinking of a way to do just that: simplify (I smell an oxymoron). This time around I will make theory less “dense” of reading than before in order to make sure you understand what I am trying to convey to whomever is reading this because let’s face it: Music theory can be hard to understand. It has a moment or two where you can look at it and it makes perfect sense, and then look again and our understanding has vanished completely. With that said, should I not explain something very well, then feel obligated to email me, Faith, or leave a comment below to see if someone else can help you. We want to help ensure that you get a well explained understanding of how theory should be, especially if you’re taking the time to read this. With that said, let’s continue onto the beginning of this discussion.

For time’s sake, I’m going to skip over a very detailed understanding of what sound is but basically sound is a type of energy that our ears pick up through the ear drum. Whenever we interpret sound energy, there is a wave of energy from a source that is picked up by our ears. This wave can be altered in four (4) ways: pitch, height, length and shape. These four things will play a big part into understanding music in a moment.

Example of Frequency
Source: TutorVista

Pitch; better known as frequency, is the variable that gives us the sound of the note you hear. For example, play a note on any instrument such as playing a key on a key board, plucking a string on a stringed instrument or hum a pitch.  Whatever that note is, it has a certain Hertz or number of wave cycles that go past a point per second. So if you take A 440 then it means there are 440 wave cycles going to your ear per second. By jumping down to C 262 or middle C then we have 262 wave cycles per second. Every note has it's own hertz and repeats as you go up or down a certain number of cycles. Though this is the most obvious part to music, this will play a big role in understanding music.

Example of Amplitude
Source: The Physics Classroom

Height, also known as amplitude controls the volume behind the tone. The louder the sound is, the higher the wave's height will be and the more force it will have behind it. Softer sounds are represented as expected, smaller wave height will be. This one is really as obvious as it sounds. Duration is the same way. Duration is the measurement of how long the sound can be heard and is a measurement of time.  The longer the wave is the longer the sound can be heard.

Example of Timbre
Source: Swasti's Design Blog

Finally there is the shape of the wave, known as timbre (pronounced tam-bur). Every instrument has its own timbre and also its own wave pattern. For example, a piano looks one way while a violin looks another. Every variation changes the way the music sounds to our ears. It’s just like taking a computer and running a “sine wave” or a traditional wave like U and n’s, a sawtooth wave (which as the name sounds, looks like the teeth of a saw or W’s) or a piano's wave pattern, which is shown to the right.

That's all for today, and I hope this style is easier to understand. Next time I'll pick up with why you should know these terms and how they apply to music. As always, if you haven't subscribed then please do by filling out the email link to the right (don't worry, it only emails you when there are new posts on here). If you already follow us then thank you as always and thanks for reading!