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=//Welcome to the Physics of Music Page!!//= ====Music has given many people fame, and become a necessity for individuals around the world. It seems some cannot survive without the appealing sound of music from their MP3 players. But most do not know about the nature behind music. Let's take a look into it.====

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The simple understanding of how sound works helps with the comprehension. Sound is the vibration of an object when struck; the vibration of the object cause everthing around it to vibrate as well. The vibration through gas molecules travel to our ears, enabling audio. Waves of vibration are measured amplitude and wavelength. Amplitude is the height of the wave, or in physics terms, the amount of distplacement from rest. Wave length is the length from the beginning of a period to an end. The wave below is labeled by compresion and rarefaction to resemble a sound's position, somewhat.=====



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Quantity seemed to govern musical tone, such that the magnitude of what is struck determines what sound the object makes. With this understanding, Pythagoras went on to discover the how plucking different lengthed strings affect the frequency of sound. Many musicians used different notes to make scales, chords and the music we know today.=====

With today's technology of understanding sound frequencies, we now can put numbers to symbolize the different notes. Simple patterns can be picked out of the frequencies. Frequency (measured in hertz) is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time, which is typically seconds. A note's octave has exactly twice the frequency of the original note.

Starting at any note the frequency to other notes may be calculated from its frequency by: Final Frequency = (initial frequency) X 2^(n/12) where 'n' is the number of notes away from the starting note. n may be positive, negative or zero.


 * Notes |||||||||| Frequency (octaves) ||
 * A || 55.00 || 110.00 || 220.00 || 440.00 || 880.00 ||
 * A# || 58.27 || 116.54 || 233.08 || 466.16 || 932.32 ||
 * B || 61.74 || 123.48 || 246.96 || 493.92 || 987.84 ||
 * C || 65.41 || 130.82 || 261.64 || 523.28 || 1046.56 ||
 * C# || 69.30 || 138.60 || 277.20 || 554.40 || 1108.80 ||
 * D || 73.42 || 146.84 || 293.68 || 587.36 || 1174.72 ||
 * D# || 77.78 || 155.56 || 311.12 || 622.24 || 1244.48 ||
 * E || 82.41 || 164.82 || 329.64 || 659.28 || 1318.56 ||
 * F || 87.31 || 174.62 || 349.24 || 698.48 || 1396.96 ||
 * F# || 92.50 || 185.00 || 370.00 || 740.00 || 1480.00 ||
 * G || 98.00 || 196.00 || 392.00 || 784.00 || 1568.00 ||
 * A♭ || 103.83 || 207.66 || 415.32 || 830.64 || 1661.28 ||

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The knowledge of frequencies, amplitude and wavelength enable us to understand why chords played by instruments sound harmonic. Chords are a mixture of notes that give a distinct sound, according to how all of the sounds intertwine. For example, the major 3rd chord gives someone a satisfied, happy tune. On the other hand, a minor 3rd gives the listener a weery feeling. Just Scale ||~ Ratio to Fundamental Equal Temperament ||
 * ~ Interval ||~ Ratio to Fundamental
 * Unison || 1.0000 || 1.0000 ||
 * Minor Second || 25/24 = 1.0417 || 1.05946 ||
 * Major Second || 9/8 = 1.1250 || 1.12246 ||
 * Minor Third || 6/5 = 1.2000 || 1.18921 ||
 * Major Third || 5/4 = 1.2500 || 1.25992 ||
 * Fourth || 4/3 = 1.3333 || 1.33483 ||
 * Diminished Fifth || 45/32 = 1.4063 || 1.41421 ||
 * Fifth || 3/2 = 1.5000 || 1.49831 ||
 * Minor Sixth || 8/5 = 1.6000 || 1.58740 ||
 * Major Sixth || 5/3 = 1.6667 || 1.68179 ||
 * Minor Seventh || 9/5 = 1.8000 || 1.78180 ||
 * Major Seventh || 15/8 = 1.8750 || 1.88775 ||
 * Octave || 2.0000 || 2.0000 ||

Chords are made by looking at a notes' scale. It is an important concept to understand that the terminology and presentation of music is based on human perception. Tones were observed by humans in a pattern that flows smoothly; going up in pitch in each interval. Upon the major scale being "defined", other scales, like the natural, harmonc and melodic minor scales, were sorted in occordance to the different change in frequencies. A major chord uses the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes in the major scale sequence. A minor chord uses the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes in the natural minor scale sequence.

In this video, I will attempt to explain and exhibit how the different frequencies intertwine to make scales and chords.

media type="youtube" key="athrE68P0dQ?hl=en" height="344" width="425"

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