Musical theory and intonation

Second basic element of the Music and the Musical theory, the Intonation primarily makes it possible to appreciate the frequencies - or height of the sounds. Contrary to the Rate/rhythm, the Intonation is a specifically musical concept.

  • All its has its own frequency, but this one is not inevitably appreciable by the human ear. For example, if it is relatively easy to allot a height to the tinkling of crystal glass, it is not on the other hand possible to allot some to a noise of step. This observation quite naturally leads us to establish a distinction between the sounds at given frequency , and the sounds at unspecified frequency - notice while passing that some musical instruments belong to this second category: Castanets, triangle, drum, tambourine, etc

  • In addition, certain frequencies cannot be perceived by the human ear, either because they are too high - they are the ultrasounds -, or on the contrary, because they are too low - they are the infrasons .

the average fork of the audio frequencies by the human ear is located between 20  Hz and 20  Khz. This fork varies according to the individuals and during their life - in particular for the sounds more acute whose perception decreases with the age.

In short, the Intonation will thus relate to only the “ sounds at given frequency and perceptible with the human ear ”.

The Intonation includes two basic concepts which it is advisable carefully to distinguish: the melody which are a succession of sounds, and the harmony which is a simultaneity of sounds. We will restrict ourselves here to study the melody bases of the Intonation with an aim of learning how to read and sing a partition.

Study plan

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