ACCORDION MUSIC 2 (TERMINOLOGY)
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This material is "nice" to know, but is not critical to the beginner stage of learning to play the button accordion. |
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The musical idea: If a musical object, such as an accordion reed, is set vibrating at a certain frequency, it creates a tone that travels through the air as a sound wave, reaches your ear-drums, causing them to vibrate, which sends electro-chemical signals to your brain, which interprets it as a sound of a certain pitch. We can represent that pitch on paper (or elsewhere) as a musical note.
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From the Source to the Listener to a Representation
Here are a few of the music terms you may find useful. Some of these terms apply to the source of the music where, in the case of the accordion, vibrating reeds generate musical tones that are transmitted through the air as sound waves. Some apply to the listener's hearing and his or her brain's perception of the music. Some apply to a paper representation of the music.
1. Frequency & Pitch
Consider a source, such as an accordion reed, that oscillates physically at a fundamental frequency of 440 Hertz (vibrations per second).
Your accordion may also have
Each "A" differs from the one above or below it by a pitch separation of one octave. The ancient Greeks noted that pairs of tones, such as those that we now label as A and higher-A, with six tones between them, formed a common musical group of eight tones (or an octave). Our diatonic accordions are based on this, with just over two octaves available on each row.
2. Measured Time & Beats
The measurable length of time, in seconds or fractions of a second that each reed sounds, depends on the length of time you keep its button pressed and the bellows pushed or pulled. Your brain recognizes durations of time, though not as absolute measurements. That is one of the reasons why, in music, we often use an arbitrary unit of time, such as a regular beat, that the brain can detect, count, and comfortably organize.
Beat intervals can be related to clock-measurable time by giving the rate at which beats are counted, say, in beats per minute (abbreviated bpm). We may refer to this rate as the tempo (or pace) of the music.
Alternatively, I could have said that each beat interval represents a time interval in seconds (s), or fractions of a second. Thus a tempo, or pace, of 120 bpm (120 beats in 60 seconds) corresponds to a beat interval of half a second.
3. Tones & Notes
The term tone is associated with the sound wave created by a vibrating source. Thus we may refer to the frequency of a certain tone as 261.6 Hz (oscillations or vibrations per second), represented by the label "C" (or, on a piano, as "middle-C").
We often use the term note as a synonym for "tone"; however, in formal music notation, it is the paper (or computer screen) representation of a particular tone.
If you press a button on your accordion while pushing or pulling the bellows, you create a tone, such as the "C" used in the previous example. A standard music sheet will represent the frequency of that tone by the placement of a note symbol relative to a group of parallel lines on the paper (or screen), and its duration by the shape of the note symbol. In our accordion notation, we show these notes as button numbers for the push or the pull* to indicate the frequency or the pitch of the tone, with prefixed marks to indicate the duration of the tone, for example '3 .4 ;6* and :6 - more about this later.
4. Intensity & Loudness
This is part of the dynamics of a tune. Vibrating accordion reeds can transmit a range of measurable physical intensities to the surrounding air, depending on how powerfully the player makes them vibrate. The brain interprets this in terms of loudness, though not in a simple way. For example, one sound may arrive at a listener's ear with twice the intensity of another sound, and the brain would indeed normally recognize the former as being louder, but would not usually interpret it as twice as loud.
Here are a few of the music terms you may find useful. Some of these terms apply to the source of the music where, in the case of the accordion, vibrating reeds generate musical tones that are transmitted through the air as sound waves. Some apply to the listener's hearing and his or her brain's perception of the music. Some apply to a paper representation of the music.
1. Frequency & Pitch
Consider a source, such as an accordion reed, that oscillates physically at a fundamental frequency of 440 Hertz (vibrations per second).
- This creates a tone that can travel as a sound wave in the surrounding air.
- A very short time later, this wave reaches the listener's eardrums, causing them to vibrate.
- Each ear detects this and transforms it into signals that are sent from the inner ears to the brain, which interprets it as a sound of a certain pitch, that we represent by the label "A". Thus pitch is a mental construct, associated with the frequency of the tone reaching the ears, and thus with the reed's fundamental oscillation frequency.
Your accordion may also have
- a reed that vibrates at 220 Hz, which the brain can interpret as a lower pitch "A", because, though different, it feels to the brain very much like the pitch "A".
- Similarily, a reed that vibrates at 880 Hz, can be interpreted by the brain as a higher pitch "A".
Each "A" differs from the one above or below it by a pitch separation of one octave. The ancient Greeks noted that pairs of tones, such as those that we now label as A and higher-A, with six tones between them, formed a common musical group of eight tones (or an octave). Our diatonic accordions are based on this, with just over two octaves available on each row.
2. Measured Time & Beats
The measurable length of time, in seconds or fractions of a second that each reed sounds, depends on the length of time you keep its button pressed and the bellows pushed or pulled. Your brain recognizes durations of time, though not as absolute measurements. That is one of the reasons why, in music, we often use an arbitrary unit of time, such as a regular beat, that the brain can detect, count, and comfortably organize.
Beat intervals can be related to clock-measurable time by giving the rate at which beats are counted, say, in beats per minute (abbreviated bpm). We may refer to this rate as the tempo (or pace) of the music.
Alternatively, I could have said that each beat interval represents a time interval in seconds (s), or fractions of a second. Thus a tempo, or pace, of 120 bpm (120 beats in 60 seconds) corresponds to a beat interval of half a second.
3. Tones & Notes
The term tone is associated with the sound wave created by a vibrating source. Thus we may refer to the frequency of a certain tone as 261.6 Hz (oscillations or vibrations per second), represented by the label "C" (or, on a piano, as "middle-C").
We often use the term note as a synonym for "tone"; however, in formal music notation, it is the paper (or computer screen) representation of a particular tone.
If you press a button on your accordion while pushing or pulling the bellows, you create a tone, such as the "C" used in the previous example. A standard music sheet will represent the frequency of that tone by the placement of a note symbol relative to a group of parallel lines on the paper (or screen), and its duration by the shape of the note symbol. In our accordion notation, we show these notes as button numbers for the push or the pull* to indicate the frequency or the pitch of the tone, with prefixed marks to indicate the duration of the tone, for example '3 .4 ;6* and :6 - more about this later.
4. Intensity & Loudness
This is part of the dynamics of a tune. Vibrating accordion reeds can transmit a range of measurable physical intensities to the surrounding air, depending on how powerfully the player makes them vibrate. The brain interprets this in terms of loudness, though not in a simple way. For example, one sound may arrive at a listener's ear with twice the intensity of another sound, and the brain would indeed normally recognize the former as being louder, but would not usually interpret it as twice as loud.