Musical note

“ As the pressure is increased, the air, passing through the holes, assumes a rhythmical beat, which soon becomes metamorphosed into musical notes. It is evident, therefore, that, by means of this instrument, the number of vibrations which produce a definite tone can be measured with absolute accuracy by any one who has an ear capable of appreciating a musical note. ”

“ What we call a higher note is so called because sounds produced by the mere rapid vibrations make every being, without exception, who has a musical ear, think of height, just as a lower note makes us all think of depth. ”

“ A musical note, we all know, is the effect upon our ears of regularly recurring vibrations. A pianoforte wire emits a given note, or in other words, vibrates at a certain and constant rate. These vibrations are taken up by the air, and by it communicated to the ear, and the sensation of sound is produced. ”

“ Thus from the definite number of twenty-four notes, varied in different degrees, by sharps, flats, semi-tones, &c., are produced all that is so magical, enthusiastic, and transporting in the empire of omnipotent music. Like as the alphabetic characters may be varied into myriads of forms suitable to every multifarious species of conversation or composition; in a word, a few musical notes in the hands of a master may be made by his skill to produce, from agreeable interchanges of time, harmony, &c., every variety of musical sentiment which can affect the human soul. ”

“ The sensitive ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in every city which is different from that of another city. He hears in each little brook a new melody, and to him the sound of wind in the treetops of different forests give a varying sound. ”

“ Five exceptions are common: (1) The stem of a grace note is almost invariably turned upwards, though according to Dr. Hullah it should be turned in the direction contrary to that of the stem of the principal note, for the sake of greater distinctness (see d, Fig. 18) . In “copy” for the printer grace-notes are best written in red ink. (2) In piano music when a single part, or row of notes, is to be divided between the hands, one playing one group and the other the next, the stems of the right-hand notes are turned up, and those of the left down (see Fig. 15, latter half of measure) . ”

“ It presents all the characteristics we are accustomed to [pg 87] in freer musical forms: a flowing and distinctive melody, ease, clarity, and facility in the progression of the parts, inexhaustible variety of modulation, purest harmony, the exclusion of every jarring or unnecessary note, unity of form and variety of style, rhythm, and measure, and such superabundant animation that the hearer may well ask himself whether every note is not actually alive. ”

“ This progress has gone on until the present time, when two particulars of our music are exactly recorded—the pitch and the rhythm. The exact relation of every tone to the key note is ascertainable from our musical notation, and the precise degree of rhythmic importance appertaining to each tone according to its place in measure and in the larger rhythms. ”

“ In musical passages in which many notes come upon one beat and the character of which is light and pleasing, a peculiar charm is produced when several rhythmical accents are made upon the same beat, and likewise in slow passages the swelling of the tone upon the accented note is very pleasing. ”

“ But simple music can be made quite symmetrical, and in all music such beat-lines, actual or mental, are an invaluable check and guide.
Each note should be placed in the left-hand end of its space. This is for the simple reason that music, like words, is read from left to right and, roughly, space represents duration. Any other arrangement is misleading, as may be seen from old music, in which a note was often placed in the middle of its space. ”

“ It will be seen that the lower eighth note rest in the first example belongs to the same part as the following sixteenth note rest, though by no means on a line with it.
19.—In modern piano music which is not of a strictly part-writing character, rests often represent the absence, not of a part or voice, but of the hand. If the notes, though representing as many parts as the piece can be supposed to possess, are all to be played by one hand, rests are employed to represent the absence of the other. ”

“ In case this definition be objected to as unnecessarily geometrical, the Quality, or Timbre, of a note may be described as the sum of the associated vibrations which go to make up that complex mental perception.
'If the same note,' says Helmholtz, [1] 'is sounded successively on a pianoforte, violin, clarinet, oboe, or trumpet, or by the human voice, notwithstanding its having the same force and pitch, the musical tone of each is different, and we recognise with ease which of these is being used. Varieties of tone-quality seem to be infinitely numerous even in instruments ”

“ At the proper moment every note appeared in its place with fitting finish and expression, although the artist may not previously have traced the combinations upon his instrument. An active and discriminating intelligence was at the root of all of his musical performances. ”

“ But, further, because, in consequence of the physical theory which lies at its foundation, the musical quality of the notes is in the proportion of the rapidity of their vibrations, but not in their relative strength, the musical ear always follows by preference, in harmony, the highest note, not the loudest. ”

“ The pitch of a note is the sensation corresponding to the degree of rapidity of its vibrations; being low or grave where these are slow, and high or acute where they are rapid.
3. An interval is the difference in pitch between two notes.
4. Rhythm is the organization, in a musical scheme, of sounds in respect of time.
5. Melody is the organization, in a musical scheme, of rhythmic notes in respect of pitch.
6. Harmony is the organization, in a musical scheme, of simultaneous combinations of notes on principles whereby their acoustic properties interact with laws of rhythm and melody. ”

“ The note G fixes the register of flutes and oboes, C for the clarinets and bassoons. In the very high compass those notes are only given which can really be used; anything higher and not printed as actual notes are either too difficult to produce or of no artistic value. ”

“ That way must be selected which represents its rhythm, its correct accentuation, to the eye. Simple forms of time, as distinct from Compound, contain but few pitfalls, and even an inexperienced writer is not likely to go far wrong.
9.—It may be as well to warn such an one, however, that it is not nowadays customary to dot an unaccented note or rest. The dot in this case would represent the succeeding accented beat, and not represent it nearly as significantly as does a tied note or separate rest; compare a and b, Fig. 5. ”

“ I seemed to hear depths and heights of sound beyond the scale which human ears can receive, keen, far-up octaves, like vividly twinkling starlight of music, and mighty slow vibrations of gigantic strings going down into grand thunders of depths, octaves below anything otherwise appreciable as musical notes. ”

“ There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. ”

“ In the long evolution from the simple to the complex which music shares with everything else we know we may observe two different methods of tone-combination which, working together, have given us the elaborate texture of the modern art. That especially suited to melodic instruments, like those used in the orchestra or the chorus, puts melodies together as an engraver puts together lines, each remaining distinct, standing off clearly from the others, representing a different musical thought, and yet all agreeing, or, as we say, harmonizing. ”

“ There is a whole new set of sensations when one enters the softly lighted, dim white interior, with the echo repeating each word like the response of a chanted service—a single note from flute or guitar a whole theme. ”

“ Every tone which proceeds from a stringed instrument, as a violin, a harp, a piano-forte, or from a pipe, as a flute, or an organ, or from a bell, gives out at the same time other sounds which are not the same, but yet unite so as to form one whole in their effect. In a large bell this can easily be perceived when it is tolled slowly ; the note sounds, and immediately after we hear others, more particularly the twelfth, fifteenth, and seventeenth. A delicate ear will perceive the same in a piano-forte ”

“ Contrasts of timbre and tone are at least as various as contrasts of colour: the complexity of musical rhythm is far beyond anything that language can achieve; while, in the devices of harmony, and still more of polyphony and counterpoint, the composer occupies a position which is virtually unique in human experience. ”

“ The piano vibrated, the stools creaked, the candles danced in their sockets, and every one sat mute while the four white hands chased one another up and down the keys, and the two fine faces beamed with such ecstacy that we almost expected to see instrument and performers disappear in a musical whirlwind. ”

“ These minute shades of difference—these slight variations or modifications of quality of tone, power of tone, pitch, speed, etc.—when not exaggerated, but determined with an art-concealing art, are found to be true to Nature, and find their justification, not as exceptions to general rules, but as exemplifications of the highest principles. The refined perceptions of piano-forte finishers have led them to the fact that the highest notes of the instrument should be tuned slightly sharper than perfect, or each note will appear to be flat, when compared with the octave below. ”

“ It is obvious that a long experience of music through singing should precede any instruction as to the time values of notes, and that if a child has sung many times by ear the sounds represented by these artificial terms, and has continued to sing by ear for two years or more, and has stored up a series of musical [Pg 77] impressions that have developed its musical taste and instinct, and has mastered the rudiments of numbers, the teaching of the notes becomes a much simpler and more natural process, involving no other terms than those ordinarily in use in music. ”

“ When a musician strikes a note on an instrument, other notes start up of themselves, not so loud as the first, yet connected with it by certain definite relations, which coalesce with it and determine its quality. ”

“ Those tones with which the composer builds up his melodies and harmonies are not parts of the world in which we live at all. None of our actions in practical life is related to tones from musical instruments, and yet the tones of a symphony may arouse in us the deepest emotions, the most solemn feelings and the most joyful ones. ”

“ The fact that these pieces invariably close on the tonic or keynote proves that all the modulations are referred to the fundamental tone of the chord, and gives evidence of a musical feeling and sense of harmony such as only human beings are usually supposed to possess. ”

“ And this is particularly true of these complex impressions which result from several notes combined in harmony. The stimulus which we receive from a chord is, for obvious reasons, more vehement and acute than that which we receive from any of its constituent notes taken separately; and hence it is in our appreciation of harmonies, more than in any other form of musical effect, that the sensuous side of the art becomes apparent. ”

“ Any one may see that painters are no musicians, else had they furnished their angels not with harps—beautiful and sparkling as the sea-foam, as are their most graceful chords—but with this, of all instruments the most musical, whose tones admit of more variety than any, (the Proteus organ alone excepted,) and whose delicious long-drawn notes must entrance every one not absolutely soulless. ”

“ The tuning of the lyre, and various other instruments, which are coeval with remotest antiquity, necessarily implies an acquaintance with the fact that, as we diminish the length of musical strings, or increase their tension, we render their tone more acute. ”

“ To the lawgivers, the signs themselves are the most important matter, and are continually growing in their estimation; the new art of music is derived from the old signs—and these now stand for musical art itself. ”

“ It is as impossible to produce the best effect from one tone or colour, as to make a melody upon one note of the harmonic scale; it is skilful variation of tone, the gradation or even judicious opposition of tint which gives exquisite satisfaction to the eye. In music, sequence produces this effect upon the ear, and in colour, juxtaposition and gradation upon the eye. Notes follow notes in melody as shade follows shade in colour. ”

“ Of the music of these minstrels in the early centuries we know next to nothing. There existed nothing at the time that could be called musical notation, and tradition, if it has brought any of their songs down to us, has changed them in the course of the centuries. ”

“ It is my temper, and I like it the better, to affect all harmony; and sure there is musick even in the beauty, and the silent note which Cupid strikes, far sweeter than the sound of an instrument. For there is a musick where ever there is a harmony, order, or proportion: and thus far we may maintain the music of the Sphears; for those well-ordered motions, and regular paces, though they give no sound unto the ear, yet to the understanding they strike a note most full of harmony. Whatsoever is harmonically composed delights in harmony ”