User:John R. Brews/Fourier series

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Fourier series (music)

(PD) Image: John R. Brews
The amplitude of a musical note varies in time according to its sound envelope.[1]

The ideas of Fourier series have interesting application in music, for example, in illuminating the differences in pitch between musical instruments and in the construction of music synthesizers.[2] The frequency spectrum of a musical instrument playing a particular note varies with the instrument and with the way that it is played. The manner of playing determines the sound envelope of a note, and therefore the amplitude of its harmonics.[1]

Some instruments (like the flute or the violin) exhibit a fundamental frequency and its harmonics in varying amplitudes and phase, and others (like the cymbal or the drum) do not.[2][3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Stanley R. Alten (2010). “Sound envelope”, Audio in Media, 12th ed. Cengage Learning. ISBN 049557239X. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Leon Gunther (2011). The Physics of Music and Color. Springer, 47 ff. ISBN 1461405564. 
  3. Bart Hopkin (1996). “Figure 2-4”, Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Making. See Sharp Press. ISBN 1884365086.