Octave

“ To the diminished octave are to be added the minor third and minor sixth.
You are already acquainted with the nature of the perfect octave, from the perfect common chord. The superfluous octave is a mere passing note, and it may be accompanied by the major third and perfect fifth. ”

“ In the octave the rhymes are arranged a b b a a b b a, and in the sestet, either c d c d c d or c d e c d e. The sonnet should contain one idea, which may be treated from two points of view, in the octave and sestet respectively. As used by Milton and later poets in England this double treatment was not often observed and there is no break of thought at the end of the octave. ”

“ These last, being designated by lines, are named the one-lined octave and the two-lined octave, and so on, because the number of lines denotes the number of octaves above the small or second octave. A is also the name of one of the two natural modes, and is the open note of the second string of the violin, and the note by which the other strings of that instrument are tuned and regulated. A is like-wise the name of that note in our system which answers to the lowest sound used by the ancient Greeks ”

“ ALL' OTTAVA (Ital.) . 'In the octave.' (1) In pianoforte music a passage marked all' 8va, (or merely 8va.) is to be played an octave higher than written, if the sign is placed above the notes, an octave lower if placed below them. In the latter case the more accurate indication 8va. bassa is frequently employed. The duration of the transposition is shown by a dotted line, and when the notes are again to be played as written, the word loco (Ital., 'in its place') is put over (or under) the music. ”

“ The octave thus always falls on the same day of the week as the festival, and any event occurring during the period is said to be “ in the octave.” In music, an octave is the eighth full tone above or below any given note. It is produced by double or half the number of vibrations corresponding to the given note. In the interval between a note and its octave is contained the full scale, the octave of a note forming the starting-point of another scale of similar intervals to the first. The interval between a note and its octave is also called an octave. ”

“ It is unnecessary here to enter into the æsthetical reason for this; [1] it must suffice to state that all nations, at all times, who have made music, have agreed in adopting such a selection, although they have not always selected the same series of sounds. As a first step towards the selection all musical peoples appear to have appreciated the intimate natural relation between sounds which lie at that distance apart called an octave; and hence replicates of notes in octaves are found to form parts of all musical scales. ”

“ Whether the English peal of an octave, with the bells attuned to the intervals of the diatonic scale, and swung by hand, a man to each rope, in accordance with the most intricate mathematical formulas and without recognised melodies, is better or worse art than the carillon of thirty-five to fifty-two bells, covering sometimes four octaves and a half, in accord with the chromatic scale, fixed in their head-stocks and struck by hammers manipulated by one man sitting before a keyboard, and reproducing the most elaborate musical compositions, is no part of the argument. ”

“ These two octaves will have been covered, when, advancing the starting-point by semitones, the scale has been carried up through an entire octave. So much every voice can finally accomplish, even if the high notes must be very feeble.
The great scale, properly elaborated in practice, accomplishes wonders: it equalizes the voice, makes it flexible and noble, gives strength to all weak places, operates to repair all faults and breaks that exist, and controls the voice to the very heart. Nothing escapes it. ”

“ Among all the chords practicable in music, there is only one in each key which is called the perfect common chord, or perfect triad. It consists of a bass note or root, its third, its fifth, and when in four parts, the perfect octave also: viz.
or
The third may be either major or minor, according as the key is major or minor; but the fifth and octave must be perfect.
I must once more remind you that all the intervals in each chord are always computed and sought for from the lowest note upwards. ”

“ If harmonia means 'key,' there is no difficulty. The scale of a lyre was usually the standard octave from Hypatê to Nêtê: and that octave might be in any one key. But if a mode is somehow characterised by a particular succession of intervals, what becomes of the standard octave? No one succession of intervals can then be singled out. It may be said that the standard octave is in fact the scale of a particular mode, which had come to be regarded as the type, viz. the Dorian. ”

“ What we must remember, therefore, is that every sound that is musically available yields, besides its fundamental note, its octave, its twelfth, its double octave, etc., as overtones or harmonics, and that these are important for the agreeable combination of several musical sounds. ”

“ Exercise 11.
"Attack" first two notes, and after holding the upper octave a few seconds, glide to lower octave, striking note very softly, bringing upper register down. The soft ending is the test in this exercise. This exercise also prevents "scooping" in the first place, and teaches the use of high register on low notes. Exercise 12. ”

“ Let us suppose such a progression by upward fifths to be carried on until a series of five notes be formed, the pipes being doubled, that is, the lower octave of a note being taken, whenever necessary to keep the compass of the series within an octave. ”

“ The more simple is the relation the greater is the harmony. For example, if we take the first note, termed the fundamental note, of what is called the scale in music, it harmonizes better with the octave than with any other of the eight notes, because for every vibration in it there are just two in the octave. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Only, as if testing and trying her own precision of pitch, she began striking the upper octave note, in making the leap from the lower to the higher, first correctly according to the accepted tempered scale of the Western world, then a fraction of a tone fiat, then a fraction of a tone sharp, then back to the normal octave. ”

“ When a piece of music containing much change of key is executed in just intonation, we find that the number of notes employed in each Octave is considerable, and that the difference of pitch between them is, in many cases, comparatively minute. ”

“ Strict canon is, however, possible under innumerable other conditions, and even a round is possible with some of the voices at the interval of an octave, as is of course inevitable in writing for unequal voices. And in a round for unequal voices there is obviously a new means of effect in the fact that, as the melody rotates, its different parts change their pitch in relation to each other. ”

“ No player upon a stringed instrument can play the scale of whole-tones and arrive at an octave which is in tune with the starting note, unless he deliberately changes one of the notes on the road and alters it while playing it. The obvious result of the application of the whole-tone scale to an orchestra or a string quartet would be to force them to adopt the equal temperament of the pianoforte, and play every interval except the octave out of tune. ”

“ Meanwhile we have to consider what forms of music developed under this new method.
V
Regarding the relations of the voice parts, one is struck by the new attitude toward consonance and dissonance of which they give proof. In the old and in the free organum only four intervals were admitted as consonant—the unison, the fourth, the fifth, and the octave. The third and the sixth, which add so much color to our harmony, were appreciated and considered pleasant only just before the final unison or octave. The mensuralists admitted them as consonant, though they qualified them as imperfect. ”

“ Thus the interval C to E, = 4:5, is called a major third, and the interval E to G, = 5:6, is called a minor third; the interval C to G, = 2:3, is called a fifth, and that of C to C1, = 1:2, is called an octave. For the purposes of music it has been found necessary to introduce other notes between the seven notes of the octave. If a note is introduced which has a frequency greater than any one of the seven in the ratio of 25 to 24, that is called a sharpened note; thus the note of which the frequency is 3⁄2n × 25⁄24 would be called G sharp, and written G♯. ”

“ The third octave of the compass is obtained by the production of the higher harmonics (Fr. sons harmoniques; Ger. Flageolettöne) , of the fundamental scale, facilitated by the opening of certain of the finger-holes as “vent holes.” The quality of tone depends somewhat on the material of which the flute is made; silver and gold produce a liquid tone of exquisite delicacy suitable for solo music, cocus-wood and ebonite a rich mellow tone of considerable power suitable for orchestral music. ”

“ The first quatrain, abba, should introduce the subject; the second, abba, should develop it to a certain point, at which a pause occurs; such is the octave. The sestet continues in the first tercet, cde, the thought or feeling in a new direction or from a new point of view, and in the second, cde, brings it to a full conclusion. [62] The rime sounds of the octave and those of the sestet should be harmonious but not closely similar.
It stands to reason that very few poets have enslaved themselves to such an imperious master without assuming certain liberties. ”

“ Without intending a scientifically accurate and rigid statement, it may be said (again borrowing the terminology of music) that in ordinary speech the concretes are uttered with intervals of a second, or at most a third; that in very expressive or impassioned utterance intervals of a fifth or an octave are frequently used; and that the mode of progression from syllable to syllable is diatonic, that is, not concretely, but discretely from tone to tone ”

“ A four-foot stop sounds tones an octave higher and a two-foot stop tones two octaves higher. A sixteen-foot stop sounds tones an octave lower than the piano, and a thirty-two foot stop, tones two octaves lower, while some organs have also a sixty-four foot stop which sounds three octaves lower. This gives the organ an exceedingly wide range, its compass being greater than that of any other single instrument, and comparable in both range of pitches and variety of color only with the modern orchestra. ”

“ Always test every key on the piano, or especially those of the middle five octaves, for bad unisons. Upon finding one, search for the string that has stood in tune, by testing each string of the unison with its octave. This being done, simply bring the other to it. Go over the whole key-board, striking octaves, and correct any that might offend. One extremely bad tone or octave may disparage your reputation, when in reality your work merits commendation. ”

“ Now if we take the case of one sound doubling another in the 12th, it will be seen that here, too, no real addition is made by the higher sound to the lower. The 12th is No. 3 of the harmonic series, No. 2 of the higher note will be No. 6 of the lower, No. 3 will be No. 9, and so on. But there is an important difference between the 12th and the octave. However much we alter the octave by transposition into other octaves, we never get anything but unison or octaves. ”

“ By playing a few chords on an ordinary harmonium and listening carefully to the effect, the student will perceive that in the usual mode of tuning, called Equal Temperament, only one consonant interval has a smooth and continuous sound, namely the Octave. All the others are interrupted by beats, that is to say, by regularly recurring throbs or pulsations, which mark the deviation from exact consonance. For example, the Fifth and Fourth, as at (x) , are each made to give about one beat per second. ”

“ The impression of identity thus produced is so strong that we often find among people unacquainted with music a firm conviction that a man is singing in unison with a boy or an instrument when he is really singing in the octave below. And even musical people find a difficulty in realizing more than a certain brightness and richness of single tone when a violinist plays octaves perfectly in tune and with a strong emphasis on the lower notes. ”

“ Then for harmonics I obtained the double octaves, with sometimes a slurred intervening single octave, passingly heard in the rise to the double octave. This is curious, though not unexpected when one has been accustomed to the seeming vagaries of reeds. Practically, nature does not always proceed according to academic rules. When reeds are combined with pipes, the resulting pitch is due to a compound of two forces pulling in opposite directions; the reed drawing to high pitch, and the pipe to low pitch, each acting upon the other. ”

“ Bell Tones and Tuning.—A good bell, fairly struck, should give out three distinct notes—a “fundamental” note or “tonic”; the octave above, or “nominal”; and the octave below, or “hum-note.” (It also gives out the “third” and “fifth” above the fundamental; but of these it is less necessary to take notice.) ”