Timbre

In music, timbre (French, IPA /'tæmb?r/ as in the first two syllables of tambourine) is the quality of a musical note or sound which distinguishes different types of sound production or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound which are used in the determination of timbre are spectrum and envelope with psychoacoustics or human perception also determining the perceived quality of a sound. Timbre is what, with a little practice, people use to pick out the saxophone from the trumpet in a jazz group or the flute from the violin in an orchestra, even if they are playing notes at the same pitch and amplitude (or notes which are otherwise equal). Timbre has been called the psychoacoustician's waste-basket as it can include so many factors.

Terms

Tone quality is also used for timbre. Helmholtz used the German Klangfarbe (tone color), Tyndall proposed its English translation clangtint, and both terms were disapproved of by Alexander Ellis who also discredits register and color for their pre-existing English meanings (Erickson 1975, p.7). Though the phrase tone color is often used as a synonym for timbre, colors of the optical spectrum are not generally explicitly associated with particular sounds. Rather, the sound of an instrument may be described with words like "warm" or "harsh" or other terms, perhaps suggesting that tone color has more in common with the sense of touch than of sight. People who experience synaesthesia, however, may see certain colors when they hear particular instruments.

Related Topics:
Color - Optical spectrum - Sense - Touch - Synaesthesia

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