Physics 288/489: THE PHYSICS OF MUSIC   Fall, 2004

Lecture 8 (9/30)

Notes identified by frequency decomposition.  How the Sound Forge works.  Consonance and Dissonance.  The concept of "critical bandwidth" and a glimpse into the physical origins why certain intervals and chords sound pleasing and others sound raucous.  Organization of music into discrete notes based on coincident (or consonant) partials.  Octave and other important intervals.  Division of the octave into scales: pentatonic (5), diatonic (7), and chromatic (12) scales.  The western 12-tone scale; alternative scale systems with examples.

Lecture Notes on Musical Notation and Alternative Scale Systems

Reading: Hall Chap 7, 18

Music Played:

    Frederic Chopin, Etude #5 (right hand plays black notes only: Pentatonic scale)

    William A. Sethares - The Turquoise Dabo Girl (11-tone scale)

    http://eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu/~sethares/mp3s/dabo_girl.html

    William A. Sethares - Circle of Thirds (10-tone scale)

    http://eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu/~sethares/mp3s/circleofthirds.html

    Beethoven - Fur Elise (31-tone arrangement)

    http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/english/music.html (link to other alternative scale mp3s)