The Music of Hindostan c9.s2.40

c9.s2.40

When primitive man—and he is to be heard in London streets as well as in Otahiti or in the glacial epoch—begins to articulate his upward whoop or downward wail, he uses his ‘musical ear’. It is this ear which is in a low state of development when he ‘loses his key’ or ‘sings out of tune’. What is it, then, to sing in tune? It is to be able to hear, *with* a given note, certain other notes which are present in it at various pitches and intensities. ‘The’ note is known as the ‘fundamental’, and the ‘other’ notes as ‘upper partials’: the latter diminish in intensity as they rise in pitch. Intensity of sound has not yet been measured, and the amount of average diminution is not known. The following series omits octaves (as mere replicas), and hints at the average diminution by time-values: