Information AboutOctave |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT OCTAVE | |
| intervals | |
In Music , an octave (sometimes abbreviated '''8ve''' or '''8va''') is the Interval between one musical Note and another with half or double the Frequency . EXAMPLES For example, if one note has a frequency of 400 of 100 Hz. MUSICAL RELEVANCE The octave is the second simplest interval in music (after the Unison ). The human Ear tends to Hear both notes as being essentially "the same". For this reason, notes an octave apart are given the same note name in the Western system of Music Notation —the name of a note an octave above A is also A. This is called octave Equivalency , and is closely related to the concept of Harmonic s. This is similar to Enharmonic Equivalency , and less so Transpositional Equivalency and, less still, Inversional Equivalency , the latter two of which are generally used only in Musical Set Theory or Atonal theory. Thus all C#s, or all 1s (if C=0), in any octave are part of the same Pitch Class . Octave equivalency is a part of most musics, but is far from universal in "primitive" and Early Music (e.g., Nettl, 1956; Sachs & Kunst, 1962). OTHER USES OF TERM As well as being used to describe the relationship between two notes, the word is also used when speaking of a range of notes that fall between a pair an octave apart. In the Diatonic scale, this is 8 notes if one counts both ends, hence the name "octave", from Italian for 8 . In the Chromatic Scale , this is 13 notes counting both ends, although traditionally, one speaks of 12 notes of the chromatic scale, not counting both ends. Other scales may have a different number of notes covering the range of an octave, but the word "octave" is still used. In terms of playing an instrument, "octave" may also mean a special effect involving playing two notes that are an octave apart at the same time. This effect may have to be created by the musician. However, some instruments are purposely tuned or designed to produce this effect, for example, the twelve-string guitar and the octave harmonica. In most Western Music , the octave is divided into 12 Semitone s (see Musical Tuning ). These semitones are usually equally spaced out in a method known as Equal Temperament . NOTATION The notation 8va is sometimes seen in Sheet Music , meaning "play this an octave higher than written." ''8va'' stands for ''ottava'', the Italian word for octave. Sometimes 8va will also be used to indicate a passage is to be played an octave ''lower'', although the similar notation '''8vb''' (''ottava bassa'') is more common. Similarly, ''' 15ma ''' (''quindicesima'') means "play two octaves higher than written." ''Coll'ottava'' means to play the passage in octaves. Any of these directions can be cancelled with the word ''loco'', but often a dashed line or bracket indicates the extent of the music affected. For music-theoretical purposes (not on sheet music), ''octave'' can be abbreviated as P8. SEE ALSO SOURCE
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|