Timbre+and+Scales+-+Their+Effect+on+One+Another

Timbre and Scales: Their Effect on One Another By: Tina Yuan The twelve tone scale has been used in Western culture for centuries and is largely considered as the most basic backbone of music. Most instruments have partials that are multiples of the fundamental which is why the twelve tone scale works in most cases. Dissonances occur when the frequencies of partials are too close and cause beating. However it is possible for music to move away from the twelve tone scale and still maintain consonance simply by altering the timbre of the sound. Timbre is the quality of a sound that is determined by the partials present when played. Sethares stated that “points of local consonance tend to occur at intervals which are simply defined by the partials of the timbre.” By using a mathematical system, he was able to figure out all of the consonance and dissonance locations in a scale of a specific timbre and then produce a dissonance curve for the timbre. By knowing the timbre of a sound, and avoiding the dissonances, it is possible to mathematically figure out the most consonant scale or set of intervals to play on it. Sethares also talks about instruments like xylophones that have beams that are not harmonically related. By using the mathematical formula, it is possible to find a scale that will make the instrument sound most consonant. It is also possible to find the most consonant timbre to play for a certain scale by using Sethare’s mathematical functions. To alter a timbre to fit into a certain scale, the partials of the sound would have to be stretched and the amplitudes would have to be altered. The new timbre will have the dissonance curve where the consonances are at the exact scale degrees of the given scale. Of course, it is hard to find an instrument in real life to possess the perfect partials for a specific scale because they do not naturally occur in the harmonics of the instrument. This is why many of the sounds calculated need to be synthesized by a computer. Of course, a scale that consists of all consonances would not be very interesting because it is always nice to have tension and release in music. That’s why it’s still nice to stick with the regular twelve tone scale that we are so used to and can actually be played on instruments. Sources: [|Hender, Nicholas. “Tuning Systems Derived from Timbre, and Timbres Derived from Tuning Systems, as Realized in Electronic Music.”] [|McAdams, Stephen “Timbral intervals and scales.”] [|Pierce, J.R, “Attaining Consonance in Arbitrary Scales.”] [|Sethares, William A. “Local consonance and the relationship between timbre and scale.”]