Question

The same notes being played on the' Sitar and Veena differ in :

• A. Pitch
• B. Quality
• C. Both pitch and quality
• D. Neither pitch nor quality

Answer 1

The correct option is B Quality

Answer is B.
Quality is that characteristic of a musical sound which enables us to distinguish between the sounds produced by two different musical instruments or two different persons although their pitch and loudness may be same.
The quality depends primarily on the waveform of the sound. The waveform of the sound emitted by a tuning fork is a simple sine curve. But most bodies vibrate in a very complex manner. Besides the fundamental frequency f, they consist of additional frequencies of 2f, 3f, 4f, etc. These additional tones are called overtones or harmonics. According to Helmholtz, the quality of a musical note is determined by the number, relative frequency and intensities of the component simple tones of which a complex vibration is composed of.
Hence, the same notes being played on the' Sitar and Veena differ in quality.