Mondo Knows Facts
Timbre is the recipe of harmonics
The same note on a flute and a violin differs only in its overtone strengths Every sustained note is a stack of harmonics above a fundamental. Their relative levels and how they change over time determine what instrument you hear. That is why synthesisers can imitate acoustic sounds by shaping the mix. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
A single note already contains a whole chordThe harmonic series stacks octave, fifth, fourth and third above the fundamentalA clarinet jumps a twelfth when it overblowsIts cylindrical tube is closed at one end, so only odd harmonics soundMusicians tune by listening for beatsTwo nearly matched frequencies produce a slow throb that stops when they agreeWarm air makes instruments play sharpSound travels faster as temperature rises, lifting the pitch of wind instrumentsConcert halls aim for about two seconds of reverberationToo little sounds dry, too much muddles fast passagesOpen and closed pipes behave differentlyAn open pipe supports every harmonic, while a closed one supports only odd ones
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Tags: timbre, harmonics, acoustics
Timbre is the recipe of harmonics: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The same note on a flute and a violin differs only in its overtone strengths. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.