Listening
Because of its position in the harmonic series, the sixth harmonic (frequency ratio 6:1) being a perfect fifth and two octaves above the root, the septimal minor third implies a difference tone a perfect fifth below the lower note in the interval. Depending on the timbre of the pitches, humans sometimes perceive this root pitch even if it is not played. The phenomenon of hearing this root pitch is evident in the following sound file, which uses a pure sine wave. For comparison, the root pitch is played after the interval has been played.
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Septimal Minor Third (just intonation, 7:6 ratio), sine wave
You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. The file plays A880, followed by 1026.67 Hz, followed by both tones together, followed by the implied root frequency of 586.67 Hz, a fifth below the A. Read more about this topic: Septimal Minor Third Famous quotes containing the word listening:“I’ve come close to matching the feeling of that night in 1944 in music, when I first heard Diz and Bird, but I’ve never got there.... I’m always looking for it, listening and feeling for it, though, trying to always feel it in and through the music I play every day.” “Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, “Sentences and paragraphs. Sentences are not emotional but paragraphs are. I can say that as often as I like and it always remains as it is, something that is. I said I found this out first in listening to Basket my dog drinking. And anybody listening to any dog’s drinking will see what I mean.” |