Tone (sound)

“ If the tone is to have life, it must always be able to conform to any vowel sound. The least displacement of the form or interruption of the breath breaks up the whirling currents and vibrations, and consequently affects the tone, its vibrancy, its strength, and its duration. ”

“ Musical sound is the name we give to this seemingly simple feeling which is clearly resolvable into simpler feelings. Well-known experiments prove that when equal blows or taps are made one after another at a rate not exceeding some sixteen per second, the effect of each is perceived as a separate noise; but when the rapidity with which the blows follow one another exceeds this, the noises are no longer identified in separate states of consciousness, and there arises in place of them a continuous state of consciousness, called a tone. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every experienced music lover has his own mental standard of tonal perfection. The trained ear knows how a perfect musical tone should sound, independent of the precise quality of the tone. The tone quality is determined, of course, by the instrument on which it is sounded. ”

“ A simple color has but one rate of vibration, and it may be regarded as the analogue of a simple tone in music. A tone, then, may be defined as the product of a vibration which cannot be decomposed into more simple ones. A compound color, on the contrary, is produced by the admixture of two or more simple ones; and an assemblage of tones, such, as we obtain when the fundamental tone and the harmonics of a string sound together, is called by the Germans a Klang. ”

“ But it should be borne in mind that quantity has reference to loudness or volume of sound, and pitch to the elevation or depression of a tone. The difference may be distinguished by the slight and heavy strokes on a bell;—both of which produce sounds alike in pitch; but they differ in quantity or loudness, in proportion as the strokes are light or heavy.
RULES FOR QUANTITY.
1. SOFT, OR SUBDUED TONES, are those which range from a whisper to a complete vocality, and are used to express fear, caution, secrecy, solemnity, and all tender emotions. ”

“ Musical sound, or tone, is produced by regular vibrations, and differs from mere noise whose vibrations are irregular and confused. The pitch of a musical tone rises in proportion with the rapidity of the vibrations that produce it. Tones may be perceived by the human ear ranging from about sixteen vibrations in a second to nearly forty thousand, more than eleven octaves. Only about seven octaves are used in music. The science of acoustics is full of interesting facts of this kind, and is of profound value to any one who would gain an insight into the structure of music. ”

“ Tone should never be closed. It should always be open, but never out. If it is out of the mouth it is not a singing sound. Even the real covered tones of the voice should never be closed. The truth is, the form of the covered tones of the voice, through elongation, is larger than the form of those which we call the open tones, in contradistinction to the covered.
In the clear timbre of the voice, the bright tone, the ring of high placing, predominates. In somber timbre, the dark tone, low resonance, or low color, predominates. In medium tone both are heard or felt more equally. ”

“ Here is one of the most difficult tasks for the teacher, and great perseverance and much practice are required of the pupil. But when once a right production of tone has become a habit, so that with every tone all the harmonic over-tones sound, and more breath is then allowed to stream forth immediately after the quick, light rebound of the vibrating column of tone, the vibrations enlarge without changing their form, and so only the strongest, fullest, most beautiful tone possible is obtained. But a touch can only be learned by imitation. ”

“ The second material which enlists our attention is no longer the physical quality asserted in the sound, but the essential definition of the tone itself, and its relation to other tones. This objective relation, whereby musical tone in the first instance, not merely in its essential and emphatically defined singularity, but also in its fundamental relation to simultaneously persistent tones, expatiates, constitutes the actual harmonious element of music, and is based, regarded under its own original physical conditions, upon quantitative differences and numerical proportions. ”

“ We speak of a fine, musical, or pleasing sound, but never thus of a noise. In music, tone may denote either a musical sound or the interval between two such sounds, but in the most careful usage the latter is now distinguished as the "interval," leaving tone to stand only for the sound. Note in music strictly denotes the character representing a sound, but in loose popular usage it denotes the sound also, and becomes practically equivalent to tone. Aside from its musical use, tone is chiefly applied to that quality of the human voice by which feeling is expressed ”

“ Sing a tone, about the middle of the voice, without other thought than that of simply pure, free tone. It will be found that in the most beautiful voice the tone will be common-place, meaningless; in many voices it will be simply sound. Now place yourself in every way upon a higher, a more lofty plane. Think of higher ideas and ideals. In other words, idealize the tone. Remember, the ideal is the truth, and not exaggeration. Appeal to your emotional energy, the singer's sensation, and give expression to thought and feeling aroused in this way. ”

“ As the strength of the tone depends upon the amplitude of the waves of sound, they, in their turn, depend upon the structure of the organ of singing, and of the parts of the mouth serving as a sounding-board or resonant apparatus, but, above all, upon the skilful management of the vibrating air. ”

“ It can only do so by different fibres responding to the constituent vibrations of the sound—one for the fundamental tone being stronger, and giving the sensation of a particular pitch to the sound, and the others, corresponding to the upper partial tones, being weaker, and causing undefined sensations, which are so blended together in consciousness as to terminate in a complex sensation of a tone of a certain quality or timbre. ”

“ In making the strident sound the tongue should rest in the same position as for the dark sound. The dark tone never changes and is the basic sound which gives fullness, foundation, depth to the ultimate tone. Without it all voices are thin and unsubstantial. The nearer the singer gets to this the nearer he approaches the great vibrating base upon which the world is founded. ”

“ Other consonants are to be classed with the noises. Like a vowel, and like the timbre of an instrument, a noise is a blend of simple tones; but the fundamental tone in a noise-blend is not so preponderant as to give a clear pitch to the total sound, while the other tones present are often too brief or too unsteady to give a tonal effect. ”

“ A perfectly used voice, on the other hand, convinces the hearer that the singer has full command of all the resources of the vocal organs. Each tone is a perfect musical sound, free from fault or blemish. The voice moves from one note to another with ease and with purity of intonation. ”

“ Anyone who has noted the contrast between the harsh quality of tone emitted from childish throats when using the chest-voice, and the pure, flute-like sound produced when the head-tones are sung will agree that the last is music and the first noise, or at any rate very noisy, barbaric music. ”

“ From this it is evident, that this intonation is natural to the human ear, if it is not accustomed from early youth to the attemperated system of tones. These nature-singers would sound as false to our tone-scale, [Pg 241] as we to theirs. But it is nevertheless specially remarkable, and almost disquieting, that in order to attain our present richness of harmony, we have been obliged to deviate from the Tone-scale given to us by nature. ”

“ If mellowness of quality be sought, a slight alteration of its position or form will produce a favourable change of singular extent; if intensity of tone be requisite, the sound-post is again the regulator. ”

“ The low tone must have the power of the loud tone, since it is to be equally understood. The acoustic organs should have nothing to do with the transmission of sound. They must be inert so that the tone may be homogeneous. ”

“ To the trained musical individual sounds are heard as different from what a matter-of-fact listener hears. The hearing of pitch, loudness, time, and timbre is not in the ratio of 1:1 with the physical sound, but always runs into artistic analysis and interpretation with artistic license. The musical interval, the dynamic phrasing, the rhythm, and the tone quality are always heard in relation to their artistic setting. ”

“ In the domain of tone-sensations, the harmonic notes, as we know, at first evade our immediate perception, though the timbre they give to the sound is at once noticed by every one, except those portions of the German race whose vocalization is faulty. ”

“ For a single sound to become a musical sound, that is to say, a tone corresponding to one of the intonations of the musical scale, it is necessary that the impulse and, consequently, the undulations of the air should be exactly similar in duration and intensity, and that they should return after equal intervals of time. ”

“ In order to bring the external world to our consciousness, we are provided with various organs of sense; and as the eye is sensible to the light, the ear is sensible to sound, which comes to our consciousness either as noise (Geräusch) or as tone (Klang) . The whistling of the wind, the plashing of water, the rattling of a wagon are noises, but musical instruments give us tones. When, however, many untuned instruments sound together, or when all the keys within an octave are struck on the same time, then it is a noise that we hear. Tones are therefore more simple and regular than noises. ”

“ When we desire to isolate a particular tone, one way of helping the attention is to sound that tone feebly on a string of the proper length. Thus prepared, the ear glides more readily from the single tone to that of the same pitch in a composite clang, and detaches it more readily from its companions. In the experiments executed a moment ago, where our158 aim in each respective case was to bring out the higher tone of the string in all its power, we entirely extinguished its fundamental tone. ”

“ The third quality of sound is due to the form of the vibrations regardless of the pitch or the loudness. The trained ear recognizes, for instance, in the note of the tuning fork, the violin, the clarionet and the piano, the same tone howsoever made. ”

“ A simple sound is the product of that hemisphere only to which it properly belongs. A vocal sound is aided and assisted by a complementary sound from the other hemisphere. The more perfect such aid, the more perfect will be its tone. Simple vowel sounds are short, abrupt, the same as consonant sounds when produced all by themselves and without the aid of a vowel sound uttered in conjunction with them. ”

“ The Various Qualities of Sound.—Physically, sounds consist of vibrations, and these are, generally speaking, aërial waves. When the waves are non-periodic the result is a{54} noise; when periodic it is what is nowadays called a tone, or note. The loudness of a sound depends on the force of the waves. When they recur periodically a peculiar quality called pitch is the effect of their frequency. ”

“ A perfect vocal tone sounds as though it floats on the breath. The correct singer’s throat seems to the hearer to be loose and open and the tone seems to be lodged in the front of the mouth. When the attention of vocal teachers began to be turned to the mechanical operations of tone production they might naturally have been led to observe first those salient features of tone which seem to point to a definite vocal action. ”

“ The law is without exception throughout the compass in which our ears can distinguish pitch, and so, of necessity, a string of twice the length of that whose vibrations induce the deepest perceivable sound must stir the air at such a rate as to cause a tone at an 8th below that lowest audible note. ”

“ Brücke seems to use tone and sound as almost synonymous, but in metric we must distinguish between them. Sound (sonus) is the more general, tone (τόνος) the more specific expression. Sound, in this general sense, may have a stronger or weaker tone. ”

“ Within a certain restricted length of air-waves lies all of the pleasurable sensation which we call musical tone. But as we rise in the scale the tone begins to become uncertain, until the highest note of the instrument is again indefinite noise. ”