Question

State three characteristics of a musical sound. On what factors do they depend.

Answer 1

Characteristics of musical sound are:

1. Loudness- The loudness of sound is a characteristic of a sound depending on the amplitude of the sound wave. If the amplitude of the sound wave is large, then the sound is said to be loud.
2. Pitch- Pitch is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies. Pitch can be taken as the measure of sound frequency expressed in terms of Hertz. Higher the frequency, higher the pitch.
3. Quality or Timbre: The quality or timbre of sound is that characteristic which enables us to distinguish one sound from another having the same pitch and loudness. The sound which is more pleasant is said to be of a rich quality.