The Effect of Timbre on Interval Recognition - Essay Example

The concept of timbre was used in the past and is still being used by musicians to illustrate the way various instruments sound separately or together. The concept of timbre traces back to the times of classical music. Debussy’s music elevates the role of timbre. Keen attention to timbre distinguishes Debussy’s Composition from some of the most listened to pieces of music. The overwhelming importance of this sound element initiates efforts to explain how humans are able to perceive timbre.

There are various aspects of sound itself or the source of sound that enables individuals to tell different sounds apart. These aspects are the ones that influence human perception of timbre. Timbre is a concept that is hard to quantify but it is universally agreed that timbre concerns sound but not the pitch, loudness, or duration. An example of when timbre comes to action is when one is able to instantly identify whether a particular sound is coming from a piano or a violin.

Timbre largely depends on two noted things. One is the waveform exhibited in the stable section of the tone. The second component is the manner in which the spectrum changes as time elapses. It is, particularly at the attack or onset. The ability to perceive the quality of the tones is probably performed through the matching of patterns (Liesch 13). This process is evident when vision is concerned. Researchers assert that the moment a particular timbre is identified, filtering out of some parts of the spectrum of change in the pitch does not affect recognition afterward. This suggests that the human capacity to perceive timbre persists. As result, humans are able to identify sounds that exhibit low pitches even when fundamentals are not reproduced by a sound system.

Different sounds have different frequencies. This was identified by Joseph Fourier in his study of tone quality determination. This led him to conclude mathematically that timbre also bases its credentials on the initial composition of any sound. The basics of any sound entail a set of multiple frequencies which are known as harmonic series. The ear plays the role of perception of timbre by acting as a frequency analyzer. The frequency of the sounds poses different reactions in the membranes of the ear. A complex tone is broken down in the cochlea into components called harmonics and partials (Maia 22). These components are readily detectable by the year and synthesized such that one can finally separate simultaneous tones.

Fundamentals partials are the lowest-sounding tones. More often than not, this is the loudest tone in the harmonic series. The remainders of the higher-sounding partials are mostly softer and are blended together by the brain/ear system to form a single tone emanating from a particular instrument. Since different tones have different frequencies, then there is a contrast in the difference between the higher-sounding partials and lower-sounding partials across the tones. Therefore, this results in the separation of quality between sounds, and consequently one can tell a piano sound apart from a violin sound.

 The source of sound and the happenings before the sound reaches the year also enables one to identify the qualities of sounds. For instance, a flute and a violin may be playing. The player may decide to cause vibrations at the same rate. There are notable changes that occur which cause the listener to perceive them differently.  The air column in the vibrating flute as well as the string on the vibrating violin alters the frequencies of the soundness. They create different sets of frequencies that have variable intensity hence making each item distinctively identifiable.

Another aspect of sound that tends to explain the manner in which individuals perceive timbre depends on its envelope. The amplitude configuration of a sound is what defines an envelope. The word “envelope” persists in this context because the sound fits within the provisions (Terasawa 44). The entails of this envelope aspect include release, transients, sustain, decay or characteristic, and attack time. These can be labeled as the common controls on sound synthesizers. It becomes hard for a person to correctly identify a sound if the attack is taken away from trumpet or piano sound (Terasawa 46). This is so because it is highly characteristic of the sound of the initial blast of the trumpet player's lips or the hammer hitting the piano’s strings.

Modern researchers have engaged in practices to affirm the highlighted aspect in the perception of timbre. They have devised computer programs to test the same. Individuals respond by giving the sounds that have the largest differences. Sure enough, the computer programs give similar feedback. This affirms that the aspects of sound, as well as the sources of sound, do well in explaining the human perception of timbre.