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The Overtone Series

The Overtone Series. Derivation of Tonic Triad – Tonal Model Timbre Chord Spacing. Pitch. The perception of pitch is a result of vibration. A body such as a string or column of air vibrates at a particular frequency producing a characteristic pitch.

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The Overtone Series

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  1. The Overtone Series • Derivation of Tonic Triad – Tonal Model • Timbre • Chord Spacing

  2. Pitch • The perception of pitch is a result of vibration. • A body such as a string or column of air vibrates at a particular frequency producing a characteristic pitch. • E.g. When a string vibrates at 440 cycles per second (Hz), the note A is perceived.

  3. Fundamental Pitch • The perceived pitch is known as the fundamental pitch. • The string does not vibrate at the same speed throughout its length.

  4. Overtones • Halfway through the length of the string, it barely vibrates at all producing a node. • This divides the string into two shorter strings lengths that each vibrate at twice the speed of the complete string. • This produces another pitch an octave above the fundamental known as an overtone.

  5. Many Overtones • The string also vibrates over 1/3 of its length, 1/4 of its length and so on. • The result is that there are many overtones produced above the fundamental pitch. • These overtones are too soft to be individually perceived but are nevertheless present.

  6. Overtone Series • The overtone pitches result in the following series.

  7. Tonic and Dominant • Notice that the first two overtones correspond to the Tonic and Dominant Scale Degrees of the fundamental pitch’s scale. • This accounts for the importance of tonic and dominant in tonal music as well as the tonal desire to move by fifths.

  8. Tonic Triad • Notice also that the fundamental and first five overtone pitches produce the tonic triad. • This is often used to explain the tonal tendency to always want to return to the tonic triad.

  9. Timbre • Timbre refers to “colour” of sound. • A clarinet and saxophone can play the same pitches but will sound different because of their timbre. • Timbre results from the fact that instruments produce overtones with different amplitudes (volumes).

  10. Clarinet vs. Saxophone • The clarinet timbre differs from the saxophone because of the relative strengths of their overtones.

  11. Flutey vs. Nasally • Generally, an instrument that produces stronger overtones will have a more nasal sound (oboe). • An instrument that has weaker overtones will sound more pure (flute). • The stronger overtones account for the greater penetrating ability of the oboe but also for its reduced ability to blend with other instruments.

  12. Spacing • Traditional spacing of chords usually follows the overtone series. • In other words, low pitches are separated by wider gaps than higher pitches. • This is because the lower pitches have more perceptible overtones (within hearing range). • A low pitch triad will therefore sound muddy (low triad on the piano).

  13. Spacing Effects • While the traditional model spaces notes according to the overtone series, interesting effects and chord colours can be created by counteracting the overtone series. • A very dark sound can result from combining low instruments with small intervals.

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