Pitch

“ Pitch is the key of the voice. A change of pitch is a leap from one key to another during silence. Inflection, as we have seen, is a gradual change in the key while the voice is speaking. The pitch or key depends upon the muscular tension of the vocal chords, which act like the strings of a musical instrument: the greater the tension, the higher the key. Muscular tension implies nervous tension and this is dependent upon the mental state. If the mind is calm, the nervous and muscular tension is normal, and the speaker uses the key habitual to him in his ordinary speech. ”

“ That inflection should be used which will assist to convey, in the most natural and forcible manner, the meaning intended by the author.
Pitch.
Very closely related to tone and inflection is pitch, by which is meant the degree of elevation of the voice. Pitch may be middle, high, or low. Middle pitch is that which is used in common conversation and in the expression of unemotional [Pg 227] thoughts. Light and joyous emotions and lively narration require a high pitch. Passages expressing sadness, deep joy, dignified serenity of mind, and kindred emotions, require a low pitch. ”

“ I am well aware that a few musicians have this gift of absolute pitch, and perhaps a greater number still, from long practice with one fixed sound—like the singing master with his C tuning fork—are able to guess the pitch of that one sound with moderate success, but for a musician to have the pitch of all the range of sounds so thoroughly established, as to feel a sense of disappointment if an isolated note was sounded either slightly above, or below concert pitch, is almost an impossibility, if such an one does exist he must be considered an exception to the above. ”

“ For here, when the pitch shifts, the voice, by change of position, stations itself on one pitch, then on another, and, as it frequently repeats this alternating process, it appears to the senses to become stationary, as happens in singing when we produce a variation of the mode by changing the pitch of the voice. ”

“ The pitch, or the differences of acute and grave, in sounds, form another important property, and one which fits them for a great part of their purposes. By the succession of different notes, we have all the results of melody and harmony in musical sound ”

“ A question is uttered with rising inflection, that is, with a higher pitch at the end. Declarative sentences usually have a falling inflection just before the final period, that is, a lower pitch. Exclamations often have a circumflex inflection, as "Really!" spoken in a sarcastic tone; that is, the pitch rises and falls.
Experimental attempts to indicate variations of pitch by our common musical notation are given by Verrier. A single example will suffice here. [18]
Perhaps the most important aspect of pitch from the point of view of rhythm is its actual influence upon accent. ”

“ The pitch of sound is wholly determined by the rapidity of the vibration, as the intensity is by the amplitude. What pitch is to the ear in acoustics, colour is to the eye in the undulatory theory of light. ”

“ In pitch there is frequent variation: in expressions of joy, astonishment, or for command, the voice assumes naturally a somewhat higher elevation; and with equal naturalness it descends below its normal level to utter the language of grave, solemn, and reverential feeling. Again, inasmuch as the interval of the second is the plainest and simplest within the command of the voice, in such diction as we are now considering, intervals of a third, a fifth, or even an octave, may be heard, both in simple intonations and in waves. ”

“ In high pitch, read in as high pitch as you can, and at the same time keep the tone pure, and you will find your voice gradually gain in compass.
In middle pitch, read in your conversational tone, with earnestness.
In low pitch, read somewhat lower than middle pitch, and make as full a tone as you can.
In very low pitch, read as low in pitch as you can with ease, and do not try to make it loud or full until you have had considerable practice. Don't pinch or strain the throat: if you do, the quality will be bad.
HIGH PITCH.
1. ”

“ It is a curious coincidence that our highest vibrating musical sounds bring with them a well-defined suggestion of light, and that as the pitch is lowered we get the impression of ever increasing obscurity. ”

“ The reciprocal principle of elective affinity between fundamental and overtone, between the shape assumed by the larynx for pitch and the shape assumed by the resonance-cavities for quality, is illustrated by the exciting influence of a sounding instrument upon a silent one tuned to the same pitch which, although not touched by human hand, sounds in sympathy with the one that is being played on. ”

“ Not only is it more rhythmical, but it is more musical; that is to say, though the pitch is not deliberately regulated, as in song, there is a tendency to a level monotonous intonation, and changes of pitch, when they occur, are more conscious and more noticeable. ”

“ There can be no definite rules laid down governing Changes of Pitch. If we think progressively, giving ourselves completely to each successive idea, permitting our movement of [307] tone to be the direct outcome of the action of the mind we shall have no difficulty in modulating our pitch.
In reading the following selections, note carefully the natural tendency of the voice to change pitch as the mind leaps from one thought to another. ”

“ Variety in pitch maintains the hearer's interest, but one of the surest ways to compel attention—to secure unusual emphasis—is to change the pitch of your voice suddenly and in a marked degree. A great contrast always arouses attention. ”

“ The operation of mere sound, disconnected with the ideas which are often conveyed by it, is a subject of curious speculation. Sounds differ from each other in quality, pitch, force, and in length. The difference in tone may be illustrated by the sounds of a clarionet compared with the sound of a bell or of the human voice. Every instrument and every human voice has each a peculiar tone by which it is distinguished from all others. The difference in pitch is shown by sounding a low and a high note in succession on an instrument. ”

“ When with the modern knowledge of musical instruments we examine the nature of those which they had in their command, we have every reason to doubt the practical application of those fine distinctions of the pitches of the musical notes insisted upon by their learned theorists. The instruments simply could not give them, the exactness was beyond their staying and playing powers. The strings of a lyre had not the delicate permanence of pitch requisite for such claims, and certainly the flutes could not have rendered intervals so accurate. ”

“ If one reflects upon the possibilities of such a mechanism, and upon the conditions necessary to produce a sound of any given quality, as that of the voice or of a musical instrument as described in preceding pages, he will understand that it can reproduce only pitch. ”

“ Once more, it was pointed out that not only extreme but also rapid variations of pitch are characteristic of mental excitement; and once more we see in the quick changes of every melody, that song carries the characteristic as far, if not farther. Thus, in respect alike of loudness, timbre, pitch, intervals, and rate of variation, song employs and exaggerates the natural language of the emotions;—it arises from a systematic combination of those vocal peculiarities which are the physiological effects of acute pleasure and pain. ”

“ Above the pitch, out of tune, and off the hinges. ”

“ In running an inflection from low to high, the tone may be allowed, especially in the earlier practice, to thin out at the top. And always when the pitch is high the tone should be smaller, as it is on a musical instrument, though it should have a consistent depth and dignity from its proper degree of connection with the chest. This consistent character in the upper voice is attained by giving the tone a bit of pomp or nobleness of quality. In taking a low pitch there is, among novices, always a tendency to bear down on the tone in order to gain strength or to give weight to utterance. ”

“ He discovered first, that a musical sound is very rarely a simple tone, but is made up of several tones, sometimes as many as ten or fifteen, having different degrees of intensity and pitch. The lowest sound, which is also the strongest, is called the fundamental; and it is this tone we mean when we speak of the pitch of a sound, as the pitch of middle C upon a piano, or the pitch of the A string on a violin. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The speaking voice, like the singing voice, is capable of utterance through a considerable range of pitch—in highly cultivated voices, of three octaves; in less highly cultivated voices, of one octave; but for all voices, not perverted by bad habit, there are three or four notes, of moderate height, upon which utterance is most easy and natural, and most capable of great and sustained effort. These notes should be selected as the normal pitch of discourse. ”

“ We all know that some sounds are what is termed high and others low, a difference which in scientific language is expressed by saying that sounds have a difference in pitch. We know that the difference between a sound which is pitched high and a sound which is pitched low is simply this—that the pulses or waves, as we may call them for simplicity's sake, which go from the sender-forth of the sound (which may be a cannon, a piano, or anything else) to the receiver, which is generally the human ear, are of different lengths. ”

“ It is a constant factor of language, but its usual function is special emphasis or intensification. By itself it rarely dominates or determines the rhythm. And since the regular determinants of spoken rhythm are time and stress, it follows of course that pitch serves usually to reinforce these determinants. [89] But not always; for not only does pitch sometimes clash with rhythmic stress, but also it is sometimes a substitute for it. All three of these functions—strengthening, opposing, and replacing stress—are operative in verse. ”

“ For example, touch is meaningless without pause, and a pause is justified by change of pitch. Inflection and change of pitch constitute the elements of vocal form which reveal thought, and all combine with tone-color and movement, which reveal feeling and experience. Naturalness is the right union and combination of all the modulations. ”

“ The general terms—loudness and quality, embrace all the distinctions heard in a noise, as in the collision of two unelastic sticks. Pitch and duration can scarcely be considered as belonging to common noise. Thus we have— (1) noise whose audible distinctions are comprehended under the general terms loudness and quality; (2) common sound, whose audible distinctions are comprehended under the general terms—loudness, quality, duration, and every varying pitch; (3) musical sound, whose audible distinctions are comprehended under the general terms—loudness, quality, duration, and uniform pitch. ”

“ As an instance we may quote the “Faust” overture of Wagner, in which the pitch is used emotionally as well as descriptively. If the meaning I have found in this phrase seems to you far-fetched, we have but to give a higher pitch to the motive to render the idea absolutely impossible.
The suggestion offered by movement is very obvious, for music admittedly may be stately, deliberate, hasty, or furious, it may march or dance, it may be grave or flippant. ”

“ Exercise.—With the syllable pā exemplify the different kinds of waves, with the same variations of radical pitch, interval, and stress, as before.
The elementary sounds of speech are of three natural divisions; the tonics, the subtonics, and the atonics.
The Tonics are the simple vowels and diphthongs. They are of perfect vocality; they admit the concrete rise and fall through all the intervals of pitch; they may be uttered with more abruptness than the other elements; and being capable of indefinite prolongation they can receive the most perfect exemplification of the vanishing movement. ”

“ An observer in the plane of the motion can easily hear a change in the pitch as the pitch-pipe moves to and from him.
Musical Quality or Timbre.—Though a musical note has definite pitch or frequency, notes of the same pitch emitted by different instruments have quite different quality or timbre. The three characteristics of a longitudinal periodic disturbance are its amplitude, the length after which it repeats itself, and its form, which may be represented by the shape of the displacement curve. ”

“ It consists of the repetition of a vowel sound—generally i (=ee) or e (=a, as in fate) , or a rapid interchange of these two. To the ear of the author the pitch varies through an interval somewhat less than a half-step. Exactly what is the interval he can not say. The musicians to whom appeal for aid in determining this point has been made have either dismissed it for the most part as a matter of little or no consequence or have claimed the seeming variation in pitch was due simply to a changeful stress of voice or of accent. ”