The answer, at least according to a recent paper by researchers from Duke University in North Carolina, is that it is not only guitars and pianos that give off overtones with perfect-ratio frequencies another “instrument” with this property is the human vocal tract. Why, in fact, should we prefer certain sounds over others at all? Why should we have a different emotional response to air to air vibrating at one speed as opposed to another? So what? – you might be thinking – just because a particular turning system is more “natural”, this doesn’t explain why we should prefer it. The loudest, the fundamental frequency, is what we normally think of as “the pitch” of the note, but the string also gives off quieter overtones whose frequencies are perfect ratios of the fundamental frequency. For example, when a string is plucked, it gives off tones of several different frequencies at the same time. It is certainly the case that there is something “natural” about perfect ratios. For a psychologist, the interesting question is why perfect ratios sound better to most people (and why others buck the trend). The downside is that perfect ratios are eliminated entirely.īut this blog (and the accompanying book) is not about music, but psychology. The advantage of the current system is that it allows songs in different keys to be played on the same instrument without sounding horrendously out of tune. This tuning system (known as just intonation) used to be popular, but had all but died out by around 1800, replaced by the modern system of equal temperament. The ratio of the frequency of the highest note to the frequency of the lowest note is exactly 3:2 of the middle note to the lowest note 5:4. Most people think the secret chord – Chord A – sounds better, but why? The special property of this chord is that the frequencies (pitches) of the three notes that make it up are perfect ratios.
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