Scan 60
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1is so low that it resembles a rumble more than a musical sound.
3Pythagoras, a mathematician, living during the Sixth Century before the Christian era, discovered partial vibrations of strings by means of his monochord, an instrument which is still used by experimenters. It consisted of a long narrow box over which was stretched a single string, either between two pegs or by means of one peg and a weight.
5Differences in degrees of loudness are due to differences in the amplitude of the vibrations, and not to differences in their formation. In strings the amplitude depends upon the force exerted in causing the vibrations. The more forcibly it is struck the farther will the string depart from its normal straightness, but it will not vibrate any more rapidly. The higher tones affect the ear more forcefully than the lower tones, and the acute tones of a musical production will be heard at a greater distance than will the grave tones. The greater speed at which the vibrations of the higher tones occur causes this effect.
7Musical tones having the same pitch and the same degree of loudness when produced upon the violin, have a much different quality than when produced upon the flute. The individual quality is so marked that, after having been heard, the voice of either instrument is readily recognized. This quality is termed timbre, and owes its existence to the shape which sound vibrations assume. A tone is a compound affair. The vibrations which produce the fundamental of a string are accompanied by a number of the shorter vibrations, which produce the partials. That which causes a string to vibrate in its entirety also causes it to vibrate in its sections. The number of accompanying vibrations determines the quality or timbre of the tone, which would otherwise be without life or individuality. A tone which is theoretically pure is absolutely without character, for it is merely a simple group of sound vibrations, and given the same number per second, and the same amplitude, would be the same upon all instruments.
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