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Sorry, as a musician, I've never heard pitch defined this way. Pitch is essentially another word for frequency (though perhaps used more commonly in the context

Sorry, as a musician, I've never heard pitch defined this way. Pitch is essentially another word for frequency (though perhaps used more commonly in the context of a musical instrument or a human voice, and most musical instruments emit harmonics, as described in the article, and are thus not a singular frequency). Merriam-Webster corroborates this: > the property of a sound and especially a musical tone that is determined by the frequency of the waves producing it : highness or lowness of sound Wiktionary as well: > The perceived frequency of a sound or note. Oxford: > The quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone.

graycat 9y ago
Usually for music, pitch is another term for the frequency of the fundamental tone. So, a sine wave at 440 Hz will seem to the ear to have the same pitch as the open A string on a violin or the first A above middle C on a piano, and the same for other frequencies, pitches, and musical instruments. E.g., we can tune a whole orchestra with just a single tuning fork for A4 at 440 Hz, and when the whole orchestra plays A it sounds good, that is, without beats from the fundamental frequencies of some of the instruments being a few Hz away from a whole number multiple or fraction of 440 Hz. However, IIRC, this simple relationship between frequency of the fundamental and pitch to the ear does not hold well for all possible periodic sounds.
Maybestring 9y ago
>The perceived frequency of a sound or note. I think the claim that pitch is a partial function of loudness is about perception. If pitch is defined as the 'percieved' frequency, then it includes whatever synthesis of sensory data the brain uses. The most obvious, is a comparison to concurrent or recently heard sounds. A b-flat preceeded by a c really does sound different than one preceeded by a g. (At least, it really does for me). Edit: But my understanding of pitch has also, always been pitch = frequency.
- melq 9y ago
  Amplitude (loudness) has nothing to do with frequency, and changes in amplitude will not affect the frequency perceived. Pitch == frequency.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

graycat 9y ago

Usually for music, pitch is another term for the frequency of the fundamental tone. So, a sine wave at 440 Hz will seem to the ear to have the same pitch as the open A string on a violin or the first A above middle C on a piano, and the same for other frequencies, pitches, and musical instruments. E.g., we can tune a whole orchestra with just a single tuning fork for A4 at 440 Hz, and when the whole orchestra plays A it sounds good, that is, without beats from the fundamental frequencies of some of the instruments being a few Hz away from a whole number multiple or fraction of 440 Hz. However, IIRC, this simple relationship between frequency of the fundamental and pitch to the ear does not hold well for all possible periodic sounds.

Maybestring 9y ago

>The perceived frequency of a sound or note. I think the claim that pitch is a partial function of loudness is about perception. If pitch is defined as the 'percieved' frequency, then it includes whatever synthesis of sensory data the brain uses. The most obvious, is a comparison to concurrent or recently heard sounds. A b-flat preceeded by a c really does sound different than one preceeded by a g. (At least, it really does for me). Edit: But my understanding of pitch has also, always been pitch = frequency.

melq 9y ago
Amplitude (loudness) has nothing to do with frequency, and changes in amplitude will not affect the frequency perceived. Pitch == frequency.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]