Music’s bases
Bases of music
have been established by mathematicians of antique
Notes of music being sounds ( vibrations ) , that have a determined period , the thing that characterizes them is a frequency expressed in Hertz ( Hz ) .
The frequency of
note La that serves as reference to tune musical instruments is 440 Hz . This is also the
telephone’s tonality ( in
The simplest relation between two
notes is the octave .
For two notes distant of an octave, one has a double frequency of the other .
On a guitar a note played the
twelfth square of a string is the superior octave of the free string note . At this place
the string’s length is divided by two .
To constitute a chord it is
necessary to use three notes that tune well . That is
obtained when frequencies of notes are parts of multiples of the fundamental .
The musical range is established by
multiplying the frequency of base ( fundamental
). For Do : fundamental x 5 gives the third ( Mi ),
fundamental x 3 gives the fifth ( Sol ) .
The result must be divided by two
or its multiples to obtain
close notes to the base note .
The most exact result is the Sol note ( fifth ) that we
find in the two main chords.
The Mi note (
third ) that is a less precise will be used of two manners .
The Mi note ( very
close value to the calculation ) will be used for the major chord .
The minor chord will be played with
the Mib note ( or Ré# ), an other close value to the exact calculation .
The sharp ( #
) increases the frequency of a note of a half tone ( a square on the guitar )
and the flat ( b ) decreases it as much .
A half
tone is the difference between Mi and Fa , Si and Do. A tone is
the difference between Do and Ré , Ré and Mi , Fa and Sol , Sol
and La , La and Si .
As most of the other chords comprise
four notes , by playing the two principal chords you
do not play false . Ex : Do
for Do6 , Do7 ,
Do7M Dom for
Dom6 , Dom7
In France the major range Do is Do Ré Do Mi Fa Sol La Si , in some countries it is C D E F G A B . Ex : La minor chord : Lam or Am ( La or A alone = Major ) .
To find the other chords it is
better to find them yourself
even to learn them without understanding . EX : If we add a tone to the three notes that form
the Do chord
we obtain those from the Ré
chord Do + 1 tone = Ré Mi + 1 tone = Fa# Sol + 1 tone = La Other Ex : ( Rém > Mim ) Ré + 1 = Mi Fa + 1 = Sol La +
1 = Si Mim = Mi Sol Si
