He mentioned how the idea of equal temperament has been around for many years, yet has never become stabilized until about 1911. On the topic of equal temperament, there is an abstract unit called a "cent" used to fine tune the frequency of a pitch. Because cent stands for 100, there are 100 cents between each semitone. Humans can usually hear a difference in a pitch when the accepted value has been altered by approximately 6 cents. However, if the frequency of a pitch was measured in hertz, humans can hear the difference in frequency exponentially smaller. The example he gave was that we could hear the difference between 100 Hz and 1100 Hz, but probably not the difference between 1800 Hz and 1900 Hz. Therefore, to make a linear change possible, the unit of a cent was developed, and related directly to the equal temperament tuning system.
Another main topic was on the concept of improvisation. My instructor explained we are always improvising, such as our posture and our facial expression.
Lastly, he talked about careers in music and how music is like in college. He asked what we wanted to do in music as they progress in life. I denied to speak, because I had no idea what to say and because the question caught me off guard.
In general, I will miss these engaging lectures by my professor. College professors who are actually passionate about their topic can inspire young students to pursue their goals in the field he or she is teaching.
No comments:
Post a Comment