![]() Of course the chromatic scale is not the only one, and other scales, e.g. The highest is called the octave and the lowest the fundamental. The most important one in the Western tradition is the chromatic scale, with 12 pitches, each a half-tone above or below another: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab then you go again to A, and so on.Īn important thing to understand is that the first and the thirteenth pitches are the same, but one is higher-pitched than the other. But in order to make music, this broad range of frequencies has been simplified into musical scales, which are discrete scales of pitches. The human ear can perceive sounds from 20 to 20,000 Hertz (where 1 Hertz is one vibration per second). This vibration is characterized by a wavelength or a frequency, that determines the tone of the sound we hear the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch.Ībove: propagation of an acoustic wave in the air. Sounds are our perception of acoustic waves, which successively compress and relax air particles, creating a vibration we can perceive. To understand why, it is necessary to come back to the origin of sounds. The theory of music has been studied for millenniums, and always closely linked with mathematics. What we call music is an art consisting in combining sounds and silences in a pleasant and expressive way. Foreword: where the hell does music come from ? I could simply have amplified my acoustic balalaika, but I chose to build an electric one. I wanted -no, in fact, I needed- an electric balalaika. I loved the celestial and melodic sound of my balalaika, but I wanted something harder. I have always, since the very first time, been fascinated by this exotic instrument, more than I had ever been for any other. I started playing the acoustic balalaika a few years ago. However, though amplified acoustic balalaikas are often met, purely electric balalaikas are very rare, and are always unique pieces, generally built on-demand by electric guitars custom shops. Popular in Eastern-Europe countries since the 16th century, the balalaika is still there a widespread instrument in traditional orchestras as well as in modern rock bands. ![]() The balalaika (from Russian балалайка, "teasing, mischievous") is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular body and usually three or six strings. On the left: the electric balalaika I have built.
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