How Music Works | Piano-ology

September 9, 2019 Chords / How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: The Physical Basis of Harmony

Enjoy this demonstration of the physical basis of harmony… learn more… How Music Works

September 8, 2019 How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: Timbre

If you play the same note on a piano, organ, saxophone, guitar, or cello, you will perceive each instrument as playing the same pitch, but the personality of the sound will be vastly different on each instrument. Instruments sound different because the relative loudness of their harmonics are different. The relative loudness of the overtones depends

September 8, 2019 How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: Harmonics

When you pluck a string, a very interesting thing happens. Not only does the string vibrate like this… but it also vibrates like this… and this… and this… and this… and so on and so on. The first vibration is called the fundamental and is perceived by us as the pitch of the note. The “extra”

September 7, 2019 How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: Loudness

What makes one sound louder than another? The bigger the vibration (the more distance the string travels back and forth), the louder the sound. The smaller the vibration, the softer the sound. This vibration…. will sound louder than this vibration… because the first vibration moves more air back and forth than the second vibration. The more

September 7, 2019 How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: Pitch

The number of times the string naturally vibrates back and forth in a given unit of time is called the fundamental frequency of the string. This vibration is perceived by our ears/brains as the pitch of the note. The more often the string vibrates back & forth, the higher the pitch; the less often the string

September 6, 2019 How Music Works

The Physics of Sound: What is Sound?

Sound is a vibration that we can hear. Sources of musical sounds include: vibrating strings (guitar, violin) vibrating columns of air (clarinet, pipe organ) vibrating diaphragms (drums, timpani) virtual electronic vibrations played through a loudspeaker (electric piano, synthesizer) Since an acoustic piano makes sound by vibrating strings, let’s use a vibrating string in our discussion on

August 12, 2019 How Music Works / Transposition

Transposition

Learning Outcomes Learn how to transpose music, both melodically and harmonically, like a real musician, not like a computer. Frank’s Note to Self: Consider combining these with Scales & Chord Progressions as appropriate. Links to Lessons Why Learn How to Transpose? The UN-Musical Way to Transpose The Musical Way to Transpose a Melody The Musical Way

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August 12, 2019 How Music Works / Time and Rhythm

Time & Rhythm

Learning Outcomes Welcome to the grossly under-appreciated subject of musical time and rhythm, which encompasses a wide variety of subjects: pulse, tempo, meter, up-beats, down-beats, back-beats, sub-beats, super-beats, duration, rests, melodic rhythm, melodic contour, dynamics, acceleration and deceleration, cycles, repetitions, anticipation, delay, melodic motives, harmonic rhythm, phrasing, and form. In this section, we will cover just the

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August 12, 2019 Ear Training / How Music Works

Aural Comprehension

Learning Outcomes To integrate the way we think about the music (theory) with the way we hear and feel the music. Links to Lessons The What and Why of Ear Training Three Skills How to Listen Absolute Versus Relative Pitch Is Absolute Pitch a Learn-able Skill? Ear Training Recommendations