Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

This demonstration provides an opportunity to evaluate the pleasantness of different tone combinations. . . . When you are finished, press the "Done" button to see how your ranking compares to the median preference order derived from studies in the literature.

In this segment you will be able to vary the number of harmonics in a complex tone. The point is to demonstrate the surprising fact that the pitch one hears always corresponds to the fundamental frequency of the harmonic series even when there is no energy at that frequency. This phenomenon is referred to as "hearing the missing fundamental", the fundamental being mathematically defined as the common divisor of a harmonics series.