There’s some really cool physics behind this! Whenever an instrument plays a note, the lowest (fundamental) frequency is usually the note we hear, but the higher (overtone) frequencies also resonate. They control the instrument’s overall tone/ how it sounds. A violin playing an A sounds different than a piano playing an A because the overtones produced have different amplitudes (volumes) for each instrument. You can analyze the waveform produced by an instrument to find the amplitudes of the overtones (which involves some pretty neat math). This means you can recreate the sound of any instrument using a combination of simple sine waves
And then the real challenge is understanding pressure amplitudes and how they bounce around the room from a speaker. To understand this puts to shame all those people selling absorber and diffuser panels and how they confuse things when they talk about their products. I try to visualize pressure amplitudes circulating around the room and I think it's very similar to water ripples.
lol the physics and math derivation behind this concept has been around for 2 centuries (i.e. Fourier Transform - a sampling theorem that decomposes any signal into sum of sinewave constituents so it can be analyzed and filtered in frequency domain), this isn't new but explains the math why it also works in music, after all a sinewave is a simple harmonic oscillator and as we know today even universe in its most fundamental form works on principles of harmonic oscillation of quantum wave-particles
@@reconon I like how you skipped over where I talk about Fourier Transforms - a mathematical tool that literally existed for 2 centuries that literally describes the math of adding/extracting/filtering of harmonics to/from any periodic signal (such as sound), just to put your useless 2 cents 🤡😅
this is so frickin cool dude, thank you so much for this!! i play clarinet, sax, and recently took up flute so the idea of overtones and partials went totally over my head since i never had any reason to understand them. i love wave physics and am a music theory nerd so this video made my head explode!!!!!!!
Well done. To all you teachers out there. If you don't start with this in lesson one, if you skip over this, you are one poor teacher. ALWAYS start at the beginning. This guy gets it.
As someone who began studying music after pursuing math, this more mathematical/physical based perspective on music theory is a lot better for me than the regular "just memorise these chords and rules". This is a way more interesting way of studying the subject. I greatly appreciate these sort of videos :)
I'm writing a paper on this. You explained this concept in less than 4 minutes in a more simple and clear way than any of the BS scholarly journal sources I'm supposed to be using.
Being in music for almost 50 years and you are the first person to explain plain and clearly something that in conservatory school was nor possible, even with a teacher that was engineer in his past life. Thank you very much.
Humans used this series, probably without knowing it consciously when they started adding harmony! If the person you were singing with was too low for you to sing with, you sang 1 octave higher. That's the first overtone. Then they added the fifth etc... Today, we use all of them at any time. Downbeats had to have one of the first few overtones, especially in churches, for a long time.
most helpful video i could find on harmonics, clear and makes sense. i like that you used examples in keys too, made it alot more understandable to have an example like that ( 0:55 for reference )
What this taught me as a guitarist is reinforcing what I already suspected. Conform to musical standards in the lower registers, and just go absolutely nuts and insane higher up on the fret board
Thank you. Now I understand the basis of the Handpan or Hang drum instrument every note plays harmonics..fundamental, 5,ths and the octave on each tone field.. a very special instruction and instruments perfectly tuned are Amazing.
The harmonic series is: (Fundamental * Integer). Integer = the relative number to the harmonic in the series. So 55 * 1 = 55, 55 * 2 = 110, 55 * 3 = 165, etc.
I've seen harmonics only on paper when studying transformers in my electrical engineering, it is so cool to finally hear them practically as I am practicing my flute
So to be clear: Doubling a given frequency gives you an octave. But ADDING the value of the frequency gives you the next harmonic? So A/220 -A/440-E/660-A/880. Correct?
You'are quite right. I've heard that particular tone played on the one-stringed Asian instrument that I see old Chinese men playing with a bow, usually in the subway system for tips. Its called "cat with tail caught in door".
Amigo, subbed! I was looking for a way to engage my 7yo child. This is well done, we'll review this, and pause intermittently to enrich and extend. Cheerio, boss!
But for the example of the Harmonic Series on A, what do the notes outside the harmonic series form physically as a wave and how do they transmit their pitch? Must they all be perfect standing waves with nodes and antinodes, or is it a specific chaotic mix of 2 transverse waves?
Adding 55 to the frequency makes more A notes? What about explaining the frequencies involved in notes that form chords or harmonies with other notes and why some notes played together don't sound good? Thanks!
Horseflop I am aware of that. I meant that in the example given, they said they were playing A to begin the series, but the pitch I heard was most definitely B.
Hi, i have a question about this harmonic series, is it fix or moveable? Let’s said if I start on C4 rather than C2, so the next harmonic note on the top of C4 is E4 or C5?
There are quite a few scales (raga) in hindustani music, and they don't quite function the same way as scales do in western music. Could you be more specific with your question, perhaps?
@@twominutemusictheory I'm thinking about our scale in the western side of things is like a step staircase but with the Hindu scale that I have in mind (I'm sorry I don't know the correct name) there's a fluctuation in the steps a little bit instead of it going solid from one note to the other. Does that allow for the same kind of fluctuation in these notes Because some of these notes sound "off" to a western ear because it's not full steps. So I suppose I'm asking is the scale I have in mind (again, I'm sorry I don't know the specific name) would that be closer to the harmonic series versus the whole steps
Thanks a lot for this video. I actually accidentally struck this site and it felt like i struck a goldmine. Too lengthy theory videos across youtube were driving me crazy. Kudos to you for this channel, I am not subscribed to it. Now my question with respect to this harmonic concept is, "when to specifically use harmonic notes in a song"? I have the same question for chromatic scales, melodic and natural minor scales... Looking forward for a solution
Yes! Since a Major chord is an emerging property in this universe, it makes total sense to treat it as the default tonal center and build harmony on it. If a Major chord is what we have, figuring out the Major scale is almost an afterthought, since the Major quality is defined at the beginning of the scale, where our Major chord is. Therefore, poverty (locrian mode) is a mental issue.
Well a few reasons: one, different instruments sound the way they do because they emphasize dfferent partials; two, some instruments like trumpet make many of the sounds by producing the harmonic series with variations of lip pressure on the mouth piece; three, the first few partials correspond (with a couple exceptions) to the same notes of the major scale. Some people think that the overtone series contributed to the way music developed.
There’s some really cool physics behind this! Whenever an instrument plays a note, the lowest (fundamental) frequency is usually the note we hear, but the higher (overtone) frequencies also resonate. They control the instrument’s overall tone/ how it sounds. A violin playing an A sounds different than a piano playing an A because the overtones produced have different amplitudes (volumes) for each instrument. You can analyze the waveform produced by an instrument to find the amplitudes of the overtones (which involves some pretty neat math). This means you can recreate the sound of any instrument using a combination of simple sine waves
This is also the basis of additive synthesis. All synthesis in fact but additive synthesis really exploits this.
And then the real challenge is understanding pressure amplitudes and how they bounce around the room from a speaker. To understand this puts to shame all those people selling absorber and diffuser panels and how they confuse things when they talk about their products. I try to visualize pressure amplitudes circulating around the room and I think it's very similar to water ripples.
lol the physics and math derivation behind this concept has been around for 2 centuries (i.e. Fourier Transform - a sampling theorem that decomposes any signal into sum of sinewave constituents so it can be analyzed and filtered in frequency domain), this isn't new but explains the math why it also works in music, after all a sinewave is a simple harmonic oscillator and as we know today even universe in its most fundamental form works on principles of harmonic oscillation of quantum wave-particles
@@LogioTek Nothing to do with quantum wave-particle nonsense.
@@reconon I like how you skipped over where I talk about Fourier Transforms - a mathematical tool that literally existed for 2 centuries that literally describes the math of adding/extracting/filtering of harmonics to/from any periodic signal (such as sound), just to put your useless 2 cents 🤡😅
This is a very good revision of year 12 phsyics on standing waves. And explained in a musician's perspective no less. Thank you.
this is so frickin cool dude, thank you so much for this!! i play clarinet, sax, and recently took up flute so the idea of overtones and partials went totally over my head since i never had any reason to understand them. i love wave physics and am a music theory nerd so this video made my head explode!!!!!!!
If you play any brass instrument, they all use overtones!
Well done. To all you teachers out there. If you don't start with this in lesson one, if you skip over this, you are one poor teacher. ALWAYS start at the beginning. This guy gets it.
As someone who began studying music after pursuing math, this more mathematical/physical based perspective on music theory is a lot better for me than the regular "just memorise these chords and rules". This is a way more interesting way of studying the subject. I greatly appreciate these sort of videos :)
I'm writing a paper on this. You explained this concept in less than 4 minutes in a more simple and clear way than any of the BS scholarly journal sources I'm supposed to be using.
Being in music for almost 50 years and you are the first person to explain plain and clearly something that in conservatory school was nor possible, even with a teacher that was engineer in his past life.
Thank you very much.
08antonio2 and he actually made us hear the order of the notes! other lessons completely leave out that part
Humans used this series, probably without knowing it consciously when they started adding harmony! If the person you were singing with was too low for you to sing with, you sang 1 octave higher. That's the first overtone. Then they added the fifth etc... Today, we use all of them at any time. Downbeats had to have one of the first few overtones, especially in churches, for a long time.
most helpful video i could find on harmonics, clear and makes sense. i like that you used examples in keys too, made it alot more understandable to have an example like that
( 0:55 for reference )
What this taught me as a guitarist is reinforcing what I already suspected. Conform to musical standards in the lower registers, and just go absolutely nuts and insane higher up on the fret board
really brilliant - concise and accurate. thanks!
it's the first time I've understood what the harmonic series is, thanks!
This is awesome! Clear and concise. Sending this to a student after making a mess of the harmonic series explanation in our lesson. hahaha.
Thank you. Now I understand the basis of the Handpan or Hang drum instrument every note plays harmonics..fundamental, 5,ths and the octave on each tone field.. a very special instruction and instruments perfectly tuned are Amazing.
is this guy on Udemy??
EXCELLENT explanation, far better than a lot I've seen on the other platform.
Subbed in any case!
I'm about to start learning the trombone and this is exactly what I needed to know! Excellent video!
The harmonic series is: (Fundamental * Integer). Integer = the relative number to the harmonic in the series. So 55 * 1 = 55, 55 * 2 = 110, 55 * 3 = 165, etc.
I've seen harmonics only on paper when studying transformers in my electrical engineering, it is so cool to finally hear them practically as I am practicing my flute
Thanks!! Used this video to get a better understanding on harmonics for my Speech Science class at college and it was very helpful!
Wow, you did a great job explaining this. Thanks so much for making this video.
There should be a new branch of science called music
@@stinkodoronion You took my response, lol!! How right you are!!
It pretty much was a long time ago, especially for the ancient Greeks and Chinese.
Explained concisely and effortlessly. Thanks
2:58 might not be accurately tune to the sound as the instruments are only accurate up to some point.
What I love about music theory is that it's so theoretical. 🔥
So to be clear:
Doubling a given frequency gives you an octave. But ADDING the value of the frequency gives you the next harmonic?
So A/220 -A/440-E/660-A/880. Correct?
Correct. The overtone series consists of multiples of the fundamental frequency.
I love this kind of stuff. It’s like dark magic.
2:48 *D quarter sharp/E three-quarter flat... yup, there's a name for it, definitely Check out some quarter tone music and other microtonal music!😃
You'are quite right. I've heard that particular tone played on the one-stringed Asian instrument that I see old Chinese men playing with a bow, usually in the subway system for tips. Its called "cat with tail caught in door".
or just D +25 cents or E -25 cents
E flat plus:
Allow me to introduce myself 😎
Great lesson!! 😊
You very very good. Leonard is applauding. All those so I can understand preamplifiers and tubes and solid state better
super helpful! thank you!
What a great video, simply and eloquently describing one of the most amazing parts of music.
Great video man👍
thank you harvey!
Amigo, subbed! I was looking for a way to engage my 7yo child. This is well done, we'll review this, and pause intermittently to enrich and extend. Cheerio, boss!
Great Video thank you!
But for the example of the Harmonic Series on A, what do the notes outside the harmonic series form physically as a wave and how do they transmit their pitch? Must they all be perfect standing waves with nodes and antinodes, or is it a specific chaotic mix of 2 transverse waves?
Interesting!! Thank you
very well explained! Subbed!
Thanks for making this!
Sorry professor, I have the wrong classroom. I thought this was calc 2...
Wow, it's really cool that harmonic series is used in music!
Excellent
Nice , love it
Why was it a kind of Bb series though?
At last I found this - thank you.
Beautiful
the major scales are created from the harmonic series and the harmonic series of the perfect fifths above/below
Adding 55 to the frequency makes more A notes? What about explaining the frequencies involved in notes that form chords or harmonies with other notes and why some notes played together don't sound good? Thanks!
Wait so different instruments have different harmonics but the same fundamental note?
so this division is a bit artificial, the tempered one
Wow, excellent video!!
Thank you
Pretty *ＮＩＦＴＹ!*
I heard the harmonic series as beginning on B, not A...?
Morgan Noel Whitcraft The harmonic series can begin on any frequency- that is, any note or any tone between notes.
Horseflop I am aware of that. I meant that in the example given, they said they were playing A to begin the series, but the pitch I heard was most definitely B.
Pretty sure it’s A
@@MorriganNoel no It's Bb ._.
it's between Bb and B, not anywhere near A
Hi, i have a question about this harmonic series, is it fix or moveable? Let’s said if I start on C4 rather than C2, so the next harmonic note on the top of C4 is E4 or C5?
Hey, I like it
What about the Hindu scale? Because I know that that music scale's different and includes a little bit more fluctuation with the notes
There are quite a few scales (raga) in hindustani music, and they don't quite function the same way as scales do in western music. Could you be more specific with your question, perhaps?
@@twominutemusictheory I'm thinking about our scale in the western side of things is like a step staircase but with the Hindu scale that I have in mind (I'm sorry I don't know the correct name) there's a fluctuation in the steps a little bit instead of it going solid from one note to the other. Does that allow for the same kind of fluctuation in these notes Because some of these notes sound "off" to a western ear because it's not full steps. So I suppose I'm asking is the scale I have in mind (again, I'm sorry I don't know the specific name) would that be closer to the harmonic series versus the whole steps
Amazing G
The Bernstein link appears to be 'broken' for me.... I'll search for it...
"If you add smaller and smaller values, for sure it's not going to diverge"
Harmonic Series: *am I a joke to you?*
Exactly XD
its actually crazy because the series of (1/n) squared does converge
this was gangsta
GROOTMAN LAMI 😂❤🖤....
What about Zappa
Is there a formula for the harmonic series?
Ereboser sum of series is 1/n^n+1 when n=1 to infinity
in this octave series, the 7th & 11th being discordant... hmmm interesting number..
They're primes
The not in between D and Eb is D 1/2#
Isn’t it still exponential cause hz are exponential?
Hz is cycles/second, not exponential?
Thanks a lot for this video. I actually accidentally struck this site and it felt like i struck a goldmine. Too lengthy theory videos across youtube were driving me crazy. Kudos to you for this channel, I am not subscribed to it. Now my question with respect to this harmonic concept is, "when to specifically use harmonic notes in a song"? I have the same question for chromatic scales, melodic and natural minor scales... Looking forward for a solution
im now into a rabbit hole of harmonics because i still dont fully understand it
Violinists love messing around with this stuff
nice explanation, but the sample series you played was actually on C :)
nah, pretty sure it was B half ♭
@@adelaidekawakami6641 Or B-sharp
why wasn't this the first day of theory class?
This is actually the material that I teach day one of my music theory classes.
@@twominutemusictheory that’s so lit 🔥
Yes! Since a Major chord is an emerging property in this universe, it makes total sense to treat it as the default tonal center and build harmony on it. If a Major chord is what we have, figuring out the Major scale is almost an afterthought, since the Major quality is defined at the beginning of the scale, where our Major chord is. Therefore, poverty (locrian mode) is a mental issue.
E flat and a half. Or as I call it: D sharpish
Bring it down a bit to Earth for the rest of us, please?! 😯🤔🙃
How can you use this concept on for electric guitar or daw like Logic Pro x or in a musically context ?
Ah yes; in order to fully understand music theory, you must first understand calculus
👏
I hate my teacher, Mrs.seward you know who you are
Intro harmonics
So I’m assuming y’all know music so um help pls. “Why is it important to understand the harmonic series in music”
Well a few reasons: one, different instruments sound the way they do because they emphasize dfferent partials; two, some instruments like trumpet make many of the sounds by producing the harmonic series with variations of lip pressure on the mouth piece; three, the first few partials correspond (with a couple exceptions) to the same notes of the major scale. Some people think that the overtone series contributed to the way music developed.
The harmonic series isnt out of tune, it just has contrast those two definitions are differing so GG i guess the H.S isnt out of tune...
What does it mean:“ it‘s actually only 12.“
I made a mistake. I said in the narration that I was going to show 16 partials, but on the graphic I only showed 12.
605 is so flat it produces d not a d# in the A harmonic.