Part 1

Music Theory Fundamentals

What is a Sound, Pitch, Note,

Timbre and Tone?
This may seem like a simple question but the answer may be as complicated as
you want it to be. It could be said that everything in nature is energy vibrating
and different frequencies; there are scientific theories that even the reality itself
on the tiniest layers is just that—a vibration in the quantum field. When
something vibrates it produces waves. Waves, in physics, are disturbances that
transfer energy and there are two main types we experience in our perceivable
surroundings: mechanical and electromagnetic. The main difference is that
mechanical waves require the presence of physical matter, like air, through
which they can travel. Electromagnetic waves do not require physical medium—
they can travel through the vacuum of space.
So what is a sound then? In the simplest terms, sound can be defined as:
mechanical pressure waves that travel through a physical medium, like air or
water. Sound has its own unique properties, such as: frequency, speed,
amplitude, duration, etc. The property which concerns us most is the frequency,
which we can define as: the number of pressure waves that repeat over a period
of time. Sound frequency is measured in hertz (Hz), where 1 hertz means that a
pressure wave repeats once per second. Higher frequency simply means more
waves per second and vice versa.
This brings us to the pitch. Physically, it can be said that pitch is a specific
frequency of sound produced by a vibrating object, such as a guitar string. Us
humans have the ability to hear a wide range of sound frequencies ranging from
20 Hz to 20 000 Hz (or 20 kHz) on average, although this range reduces as we
age (and it is nothing compared to some animals). Musically, a pitch is like the