Home Frequency Pitch and Overtone Beats Instruments Works Cited


Overtone occurs because any object producing sounds usually produces more then one frequency of sound wave at any given particular time. An example of this occurs very readily in the accordion, king of all instruments. Say, for example, your accordion is cranking out a 440 Hz sound wave. Due to the properties of the parts within the accordion, it will also pump out frequencies of 880 Hz, 1320 Hz, and 1760 Hz. This is due to smaller parts in the accordion that also vibrate. Usually, these extra frequencies are even multiples of the vibration of the whole accordion. These extra frequencies are overtones. Remarkably, since these overtones are even multiples of the fundemental frequency, we interpret them all as a single pitch. This makes your voice unique from everybody elses even when you sing the exact same pitch. Pitch is related to the notes of the musical scale. Notes are related by their ratio of their frequencies. For a diatonic music scale the ratios are as follows
C=1, D=9/8, E=5/4, F=4/3, G=3/2, A=5/3, B=15/8, C=2
I also have this nifty little picture provided by Scientific American (don't tell)
The "three blind mice" activity...while on some level intellectually stimulating, was not much more then an exercise in frustration. Why or what the ring-tailed lemur has do with the physics at hand is beyond me.Just move along to Beats now.