Friday, February 9, 2001, 16:00
WHGA Auditorium
Dr. R. Frosch, ETHZ
Abstract:
This seminar (with demonstrations on a DX11 music synthesizer) concerns the
conditions which two harmonic complex tones have to fulfil in order to be
consonant. The consonance theory of H. von Helmholtz (involving beats of
partial tones) agrees with most observations; its deviations from modern
psycho-acoustical experiments tend to compensate each other. However, the
Helmholtz theory and similar more recent theories fail to predict the
popularity of the major and minor thirds (frequency ratios of 5/4 and 6/5)
at pitches ranging from about 200 to 1000 Hertz. That popularity as well as
certain other observations can possibly be explained by new consonance ideas
based on the physiology of the inner ear.