Last week we talked about affect affects the way we hear music. While on the topic of music and how it makes us feel, we got to talking about what music really is and what elements make it music. We learned how volume can create a mood and how changing the volume can affect the overall experience of listening to the music. This week we’re going to keep the discussion going and focus on timbre.
What is Timbre? To put it simply, timbre is how a sound, well, sounds. From a technical standpoint timbre is the shape a sound makes in the form of a soundwave. If you look at images of soundwaves side by side, you’ll notice that sound waves are smooth and curvy while others may be jagged and sharp.
Waveforms for a tuning fork, clarinet, and trumpet. (Simplifying Theory)
If you look at the image above you will see the soundwaves of the tuning fork, clarinet, and trumpet. The first thing you’ll notice when looking at the waves is the overall shape of the waves. The tuning fork is a smooth curve that undulates with no sharp edges. The clarinet is much more jagged and spikes up and down frequently and at different amplitudes. The trumpet, while not as severe as the clarinet, still has a varied shape with sharp peaks. But what does this mean in terms of what we hear? What it boils down to is that every sound has it’s own distinctive wave, kind of like a fingerprint, and with each wave comes it’s own tone. This means that you can play the same notes on different instruments but get completely different sounds. For example, listen to the C Minor pentatonic scale on the piano. Now listen to the same scale on the guitar. Do you hear the difference? Both musicians are playing the exact same notes, but they sound completely different. How does this affect the affect of music? Last week we talked about how affect is the way we experience music, so what does timber have to do with it? Because timber can vary so greatly from instrument to instrument, the instruments we hear can affect the way we hear the music. Take the theremin, for example. If you’re not sure what that is, the theremin, invented by Léon Theramin in 1928, is an electronic instrument that is played without any kind of physical contact. The instrument works by creating electromagnetic fields from two antennae to control pitch and volume. In this video, Grégoire Blance performs in a theremin/piano duet with Orane Donnadieu covering Dubussy’s “Claire de Lune.” The theremin is a stark contrast against the soothing piano music. While it does lend a somewhat peaceful tone, the electronic sound of the theremin adds an otherworldly sense that would be not be present in the instrument’s absence.
Think about your favorite songs and then think about how they would sound if the instruments were replaced. Would the song feel the same way if the guitar in that rock song was replaced by a flute or a violin? Go to YouTube and try to find different versions of your favorite songs with different interests and let me know how they differ in the comments below. I look forward to reading what you find.
References Simplifying Theory. What is Timbre? n.d. https://www.simplifyingtheory.com/timbre/. 23 February 2021. Never miss a thing and join our mailing list today.
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Affect, pronounced ah-fact, is a term used to describe the way a piece of music or art expresses an idea. It is a piece moves us, makes us feel a certain way, or see something in a certain light. Like most things affect can be a subjective thing and can vary depending on a variety of factors including the listener’s mood, background, and personality. We previously posted a series on how music affects us from a scientific standpoint, but what can we say about it from a technical standpoint, and where does affect fit into all of this? This week we’re going to dig into some basics of what makes music and how it all plays into the affect of a piece. What is Music? This is a question that could be debated till the end of the world and I doubt that a final answer could ever be agreed on. What is music to you? Is it just a series of noise that happens to create some form of rhythm or melody or is a thought out process involving hours of time in composition? While we could devote an entire series to this question alone, let’s define music as “humanly organized sound.” (Blacking) Now that we have a definition of music, we can start discussing the characteristics that make music, volume, timbre, pitch, and duration. “The manipulation and organization of these characteristics are what create music by any definition” (Echoes: Music, History, and Culture) and will be our focus for the moment. Today we are going to discuss volume. Volume Volume is a simple subject. It is simply how loud or soft a sound is. Pretty easy right? From a technical standpoint, volume is simply the height of a sound wave’s amplitude. But volume is more than just how tall a wave is Have you ever noticed that when a song you love comes on your first instinct is to turn the volume up? What happens when music starts soft and suddenly gets loud or vice versa? Does it grab your attention and make you listen closer? So, what does this mean? Volume is an effective tool to direct our attention and affect the overall feel of our listening experience. Listen to your favorite song but keep the volume low. Then listen to it again but louder. Has the experienced changed? Maybe the emotions you feel while listening get stronger the louder the volume gets, or maybe you just simply notice more things when the volume is at a different level. This experiment shows that the loudness of a sound has an effect on how we listen to and process music. We will find that quieter music can soothe us while loud music can excite and intensify emotions, thus affecting the overall affect of a piece. And by the very definition of affect, volume conveys an idea through the simple use of a humble soundwave. References Holley, Whitney and Rachael Fischer. Echoes: Music, History, and Culture. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2020. 4-5. Blacking, John. "How Musical Is Man?" Seattle: University of Washington Press 1973: 89. Never miss a thing and join our mailing list today.
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Dating back to the 1950s, rockabilly is a combination of classic rock and roll, country, and rhythm and blues. The music boasts strong vocals, fast tempos, a certain amount of twang, and the band is usually comprised of a vocalist, someone on rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and an upright bass. A tape echo was also often used to create an echo affect.
Originating from the southern region of the United States, rockabilly was named for its association with hillbillies playing rock and roll. Key players in the music trend include Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Recent releases from the likes of Reverend Horton Heat, Los Straitjackets, and the Hillbilly Moon Explosion still carry on the tradition of rockabilly today. While rockabilly came to life through the blending of various music genres, its popularity began to rise with Elvis Presley’s release of “That’s All Right.” According to guitarist Scotty Moore, Elvis, Bill Black, Sam Phillips and himself were recording at the legendary Sun Records studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The group was taking a break when Elvis began to play “That’s All Right, Mama,” originally released by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup in 1946. The group excitedly worked together adding their own twists to the music. The song was later released with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” setting the standard for the rockabilly genre. While rockabilly is generally associated with the south, some northern artists did join the party. Bill Haley and the Comets released “Rock Around the Clock” with Decca Records in NYC, selling 75,000 copies and later featured on Blackboard Jungle. By 1956 the genre was a national affair with an explosion of music from the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins. Cash released “Folsom Prison Blues” and Perkins released “Blue Suede Shows” through Sun Records, and Presley released “Heartbreak Hotel” through RCA. Rockabilly died down for a little while, but experienced a revival in the 1970s with the introduction of the film American Graffiti and the popular TV show Happy Days. The revival took a particularly strong hold in the UK where it influenced the likes of the Beatles and Dave Edmunds of the Rockpiles. Today rockabilly elements can be heard in indie, pop. Blues rock, and country music. The White Stripes were heavily influenced by the 1950s style sound. Never miss a thing and join our mailing list today.
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