Timbre

By Olivia McConney
What is Timbre?
Timbre is known as the the quality of the
sound or tone color.

Timbre has to do with describing a sound

you hear, not the pitch or dynamic but more
to do with the way the note sounds. For
example the note can sound dark, mellow,
light or sharp.
Instruments and Timbre
You can tell the difference between 2
instruments by just the timbre of the sound
it makes. For example, if an oboe and a
trumpet play the same note you can tell
that they are 2 different instruments
because of the way the note sounds.
AN OBOE A TRUMPET
Composers and Timbre
When a composer writes a piece of music he
or she might want the listener to feel a
certain way. To do this the composer will use
a certain timbre to create a mood for us,
such as making the piece sound dark or
bright.

In this piece the timbre is light and relaxing.

The flute sounds like the singing of a bird.
http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLUOCR6x98E
What Causes Timbre?
Timbre is caused by the note of an instrument
creating a certain sound frequency. If for
example, a violin and a viola play the same
note you can tell the difference between the
two because the viola has a deeper sound then
the violin. When we are listening to a piece of
music we are not listening to each individual
frequency that the instrument produces but we
are listening to all the frequencies together.
This allows us to feel the mood of the piece of
music or the color of the music.
Humans and Timbre
We can hear the difference between 2
instruments because of the frequency it plays
at. For example, if one person is playing the
violin with pizzicato and the other person is
not, we are able to hear the difference in the
2 instruments even though they are both a
violin. This can cause a different timbre in the
instruments because the violin that is played
with pizzicato can make the sound feel quick
and jumpy but the other violin can make us
feel calm and relaxed.
References
http://cnx.org/content/m11059/latest/
http://

www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Arts/music/e
lements/elemofmusic/timbre.htm
http://

people.sps.lane.edu/mhuiseng/Journal%20pd
f%20files/journal2timbre05.pdf
http://

www.haitianmusicindustry.com/blogs/hmi/14
2-understanding-basic-music-theory-timbre
.html