Sound Waves and Timbre

1
Sound Waves and Timbre

• Carla Piper, Ed. D.
• Music Lesson Activities

2
Vibrations

• A sound wave is a vibrating object which creates
  a disturbance in a medium
• The particles of the medium through which the
  sound moves is vibrating in a back and forth
  motion at a given frequency.

3
Frequencies

• The frequency of a wave refers to how often the
  particles of the medium vibrate when a wave
  passes through the medium. 
• vocal chords of a person
• the vibrating string and sound board of a guitar
  or violin
• the vibrating tines of a tuning fork
• the vibrating diaphragm of a radio speaker
• The harmonic overtone series natural
  mathematical relationships in frequencies

4
Timbre

• The quality or timbre of the sound produced by a
  vibrating object is dependent upon the natural
  frequencies of the sound waves produced by the
  objects.
• Pure tones Single frequency (flute)
• Complex tones - Tuba
• set of frequencies in mathematical relationships
• the harmonic overtone series
• Noise number of frequencies

5
Recording Sound Waves

• Computer sound recorders allow you to record and
  edit sound.
• You get a visual image of the sound wave.

6
Airplane
Click on image to play!
7
Telephone
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8
Clock
Click on image to play!
9
Bell
Click on image to play!