This is actually question my daughter posed and I’m pretty stumped. She asked how, if two people with (let’s say) perfect pitch sing a song, how is it possible that we can still tell who is singing when the notes would be identical?
Note: I know absolutely nothing about music, but figured this was the best place to ask for her.
Edit: Wow, many of these answers are incredible! I had no idea this would receive such in depth and thoughtful feedback. I have learned a huge amount. I was not exaggerating above when I said I know nothing about music (I don’t even know what pitch is – just quoted my daughter on that) and I’m grateful to those of you who took the time to help me learn.
In: Biology
The sound isn’t just the exact pure tone of the pitch they’re singing in. Every instrument and voice has a distribution of frequencies around the main pitch, known as its *timbre*. A piano, for example, is very concentrated around a specific pitch, while a drum is more spread out (which makes piano a better instrument for expressing detailed harmonies, but also makes it sound much more dissonant if you play a note that’s a bit off).
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