ABSTRACT
In this chapter we apply spectrograms to musical recordings in order to better understand the music that we hear. Spectrograms are a tool for aiding our listening comprehension. They certainly cannot substitute for our hearing, which is primary. However, like musical scores, spectrograms allow us to better interpret the music as we listen to it. Some important aspects of music that are displayed well in spectrograms are (1) timbre, (2) vibrato, (3) tonal harmonics, (4) dynamics (loudness), and (5) short-term pattern and structure. The first four of these aspects-timbre, vibrato, tonal harmonics, dynamics-relate to the performance of the music, and how we perceive it as we listen to it. The fifth aspect, short-term pattern and structure, is an aspect of music that is typically analyzed using musical scores. Spectrograms provide an additional tool for perceiving pattern and structure, at least over a time span of a few minutes, since they reveal the full range of harmonics of notes, not just the fundamental pitches described by scores. They also are valuable in analyzing improvisational music, or music from other parts of the world, where scores are simply not available.
