Musical sound – is a sound produced by the human voice or a musical instrument. Musical sounds are then classified on a scale (scale). In Europe, we distinguish as many as eight such sounds, with the last being a repetition of the first in the so-called octave interval. This means that the eighth has a frequency of sound waves that is exactly an octave away from the first.
The term octave refers to a set of sounds in a given “octave.” In each octave, seven diatonic sounds can be distinguished, as well as one sound that closes the octave and is simultaneously the first sound of the next octave.
Musical sound has specific characteristics that allow for its classification:
– Pitch – it depends on the fundamental frequency and is expressed in Hertz. The human ear can only hear musical sounds in the range from 16 Hz to 20 kHz. Large organs have the ability to generate such a wide range of sounds. Most often, musical sound is limited to a smaller range in Hertz;
– Duration of sound – this is the time taken to produce a given sound by a musical instrument. It largely depends on how the musician uses the instrument;
– Loudness of sound – it is influenced by the amplitude of air vibrations, which are responsible for sound transmission;
– Timbre of sound – it depends on the frequency and the number of components of the sound.
