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3.1.5Tone Color: Same Pitch, Same Loudness, But "Different" Sounding
Annie and Frank demonstrate tone color like this:
Anything you can sing, I can sing sweeter. I can sing anything sweeter than you. (Sweetly) No you can’t. (Sweeter) Yes I can. (Sweeter) No you can’t. (Sugary) Yes I can (etc.).
WHAT DID THE BIG BANG SOUND LIKE?
As you know, the particular universe we allegedly live in (perhaps one of zillions of parallel universes) started with a big bang, 13.7 billion years ago. If someone had thought to set up a microphone and maybe a cassette recorder (or whatever the prevailing recording technology was back those days) to tape the event, what would it have sounded like?
John Cramer of the physics department at the University of Washington, has re-created the sound of the big bang, just for you. It’s not exactly a “bang”—it’s more a like the sound of a chorus line of 100,000 bass crickets in top hats. The sound gradually builds to a climax, then just as gradually fades away. If you listen closely, you can hear the faint tenor of a lone cricket, singing “When you wish upon a star ... ”
Here’s the big bang sound link:
www.NPL.Washington.edu/av/altvw104.html
Why does a gruff voice sound different from a sweet voice? You can easily tell one from the other when each voice sings, in turn, the same pitch at the same loudness level for the same duration.
Why does a guitar sound “different” from a piano, even when you play exactly the same note on each instrument?
Before getting into the “why” of tone color, a little bit on the subject of acoustics.