What makes a sound a “music note” vs being just a regular sound?
In: 5
A frequency. If I tap my finger against the table once a second, it’s not going to sound like a note, it’s going to sound like I’m tapping my finger against the table. However, if I tap my finger 440 times a second, it’s not going to sound like tapping anymore, it’s going to sound like the note A4. There’s a great demonstration of this, where someone plays E on the piano faster and faster, and as he gets to playing it more than 20 times a second (20Hz, the lower limit of human hearing), it begins to sound more and more like a sine wave of whatever frequency the note is being played at.
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