ABSTRACT
Pitch and loudness are two of three important descriptors of musical sounds commonly used by musicians, the other being “ timbre. ” Pitch relates to issues such as notes on a score, key, melody, harmony, tuning systems, and intonation in performance. Loudness relates to matters such as musical dynamics (e.g., pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff) and the balance between members of
5.1 What is Timbre? 231 5.2 Acoustics of Timbre 233
5.2.1 Note envelope 234 5.2.2 Note onset 237
5.3 Psychoacoustics of Timbre 242 5.3.1 Critical bands and timbre 242 5.3.2 Acoustic cues and timbre perception 244
5.4 The Pipe Organ as a Timbral Synthesizer 253 5.5 Deceiving the Ear 258
5.5.1 Perception of pure tones 258 5.5.2 Masking of one sound by another 260 5.5.3 Note grouping illusions 264 5.5.4 Pitch illusions 270
References 274
soloist and accompaniment). Timbre to sound quality descriptions include: mellow, rich, covered, open, dull, bright, dark, strident, grating, harsh, shrill, sonorous, somber, colorless and lackluster. Timbral descriptors are therefore used to indicate the perceived quality or tonal nature of a sound which can have a particular pitch and loudness also.
