Music Theory
This is a list of "WIKIPEDIA" articles that I accumulated in trying to understand "Music", what it is and how it is represented. I originally gathered them as pdf copies of the "Print Preview" of the article in WIKIPEDIA. Here they are provided as "links" to the actual articles in WIKIPEDIA, allowing you to follow the internal links within the articles to related information. This list also includes some links to other sites with related information. The list is in an "outline" form that seemed helpful to me.
Physics Classroom - an Online Education site from which the topics in this section have been taken
Waves - examining the phenomena in the lessons:
- Vibrations, Waves and Wavelike Motion, Properties, Behavior, and Standing Waves
Sound Waves and Music - Provides answers to many questions about this topic in the lessons:
Lesson 1: The Nature of a Sound Wave:
- is a Mechanical wave, as a Longitudinal wave, and is a Pressure wave
Lesson 2: Sound Properties and their Perception
- Pitch and Frequency, Intensity and DB Scale, The Speed of Sound, and The Human Ear
Lesson 3 - The Behavior of Sound Waves
-
Interference and Beats,
Doppler Effect and Shock Waves,
Boundary Behavior, and
Reflection/Refraction/Diffraction
Lesson 4 - Resonance and Standing Waves
- Natural Frequency, Forced Vibration, Standing Wave Patterns, Fundamental Frequency and Harmonics
Lesson 5 - Physics of Musical Instruments
- Resonance, Guitar Strings, Open-End Air Columns, Closed-End Air Columns
The items below deal with the reception by and the effect of music on humans.
Perception - the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment
Scene (perceived) - In the field of perception, a scene is information that can flow from a physical environment into a perceptual system
Perceptual System - a computational system (biological or artificial) designed to make inferences about properties of a physical environment based on "scenes"
Sensory Neuroscience - explores the anatomy and physiology of neurons that are part of sensory systems such as vision, hearing, and olfaction
PsychoPhysics - the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation
PsychoAcoustics - branch of Psychophysics dealing with how humans perceive various sounds.
Sound is a sensation, that is, something that is detected by one of the "senses" (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell)...in this case, hearing.
Sound/Noise/Music
- Sound - a vibration that produces a wave of pressure through a medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
This article on SOUND calls attention to the following concepts relating to the nature of sound, its physical characteristics as produced and as perceived.
Acoustic Wave
Longitudinal (compression) and Transverse waves
Sound Wave Properties (at source)
Frequency (source-vibrations/second)
Wavelength (time interval between vibrations-the inverse of frequency)
Amplitude (sound pressure, related to intensity of vibration)
Speed (of sound in medium-affecting wave length)
Direction
Perception of Sound (properties at receiver)
Pitch (frequency at receiver)
Duration (waveform length as perceived at the receiver)
Loudness (intensity of wave at receiver)
Timbre (quality of the sound, has many components)
Sonic Texture (relates to interaction of multiple sound sources)
Spatial Location (of source relative to receiver)
- Wave - "sound waves in air are variations of the local pressure that propagate by collisions between gas molecules"
- Noise - "Sound judged to be unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing"
- Noise in Music - unwanted sounds in music
- Noise Music - the use of noise in a musical context
- Musical Tone - a steady periodic sound