phd Isaac Newton/DF6

I need two discussion replies – 150 words each

Timbre

Read the article Making Sound Beautiful (Reading #1). This is a very “sciency” reading and I am not expecting that you completely understand all of it when you are through reading; but work through it and ideally the main concepts from the lecture about the mathematical nature of Harmonics and the creation of Timbre through “harmonic content” and “amplitude envelope (ADSR)” will be reenforced.

-Does it surprise you that when we hear a musical sound we are actually hearing an amalgam of many tones?-Had you suspected or wondered about this before.-What might it mean when someone describes a sound as “bright”?-What might it mean when someone describes a sound as “dark”?- Think about some of your favorite moments in your favorite songs, is it possible that what you like so much about that song has more to do with Timbre than the notes being played?-Feel free to talk about or explore any other aspect of the article or the concept of Timbre in general

These are not required listening, but are good ways to get at this concept from a different angle and my help you come up with some responses:Here is a good demonstration of the ADSR concept; the 2 minutes of this string quartet by Maurice Ravel features a lot pizzicato (string plucking) technique. Notes that are plucked have a much different ADSR than those that are bowed. Think about the alternating between these 2 techniques adds to the music