3 ms·
You can also distinguish between a soprano singing vs. a baritone, or a flute playing vs. a saxophone. It’s when you start trying to distinguish the same type
by jacobolus 5y ago
You can also distinguish between a soprano singing vs. a baritone, or a flute playing vs. a saxophone.
It’s when you start trying to distinguish the same type of sound to the nearest semitone that it gets hard (unless trained, ideally from a young age).
- jacquesm 5y agoI have a trick for that. I search up or down whistling from middle-C and count, that number modulo 12 is the pitch. Of course that only works for the range that I can whistle.
- slaymaker1907 5y agoEven on the same instrument, skilled people can often pick out what range it is being played in due to timbre changes. However, this is much more difficult if not nearly impossible when using pure tones like a tuner. These timbre changes can even differ between two semitones depending on the physical properties of the thing producing sound. A B on a trombone is going to sound different than a Bb since B is played in 7th position while Bb is played in 1st position.
- jacquesm 5y agoYes, this is very clear on wind instruments where the timbre can change substantially from one note to the next. The saxophone is notorious for this, it is technically a woodwind and it is absolutely unplayable if you don't tune the individual notes as you play them, you have to use your embouchure to get the notes to match pitch. Especially noticeable when playing with other instruments. https://www.sarahlynnroberts.com/beyond-the-staff/2020/1/30/mouthpiece-pitch https://www.sarahlynnroberts.com/beyond-the-staff/2020/1/30/...