Part 2: The Organization of Pitch

In music, the word pitch refers to our perception of how high or low a tone is. Pitch comes to our ears in the form of waves of energy, specifically sound waves. A sound wave pulsates through air, reaches our ears, and is then interpreted as sound by our brain. The sound wave is very much like ripples of water or like wind moving a field of grass. Instead of water or grass, sound moves through the air that surrounds us.

There are 2 basic types of sound waves: uniform waves and random waves. The pitches produced by random waves are indefinite. We perceive these sounds as noise, or in musical terms percussive . Examples include countless everyday things such as ripping paper, a hammer hitting a wall, breaking glass and running water. Drums and many other percussion instruments also produce indefinite pitch.

The pitches produced by uniform waves, on the other hand, are definite and we perceive them as musical tones . Examples include singing, humming, and all the tones produced by musical instruments.

Random wave vs. uniform wave

Let’s get started with Day 16!