Harmonic series (music)

Pitched musical instruments are usually based on a harmonic oscillator such as a string or a column of air. Both can and do oscillate at numerous frequencies simultaneously. Because of the self-filtering nature of resonance, these frequencies are mostly limited to integer multiples of the lowest possible frequency, and such multiples form the harmonic series.

See also:

• Harmony
• FM synthesis
• Additive synthesis
• Missing fundamental
• Throat singing
• Physics of music
• Mathematics of musical scales