- published: 23 May 2012
- views: 43371
In music, timbre, also known as tone color, ( /ˈtæmbər/ TAM-bər or /ˈtɪmbər/; French: [tɛ̃bʁ]) is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope. In psychoacoustics, timbre is also called tone quality and tone color.
In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For instance, it is the difference between a guitar and a piano playing the same note at the same loudness. Experienced musicians are able to distinguish between different instruments based on their varied timbres, even if those instruments are playing notes at the same pitch and loudness.
Tone quality and color are synonyms for timbre, as well as the "texture attributed to a single instrument". Hermann von Helmholtz used the German Klangfarbe (tone color), and John Tyndall proposed an English translation, clangtint. But both terms were disapproved of by Alexander Ellis, who also discredits register and color for their pre-existing English meanings (Erickson 1975, 7).
I want your hand across my belly
I want your breasts upon my back
I want your pain to rip right through me
I am your death, you are my wrath
I?ll take your hand beyond the threshold
I?ll take your gifts as art of fact
I?ll take your tongue right down to my throat
You are my loss, I am your map
I find your eyes, they give me shelter
I find your lips, they give me peace
I find your need to take me over
Open my heart, I?ll tell you stories
Open my legs, I?ll read your mind
Open my mail, I?ll tell you?re forty
You are my fate, I?m your design
I?ll lead you over, the city burning
I?ll lead you home to province town
I?ll lead you down the soft dunes yearning
You?re my vision, I am your sound
I long to be your handsome woman
I long to feel the crease of time
I long to free Medusa?s stallion
I?m your water, you are mine
I need to carve your face in pavement
I need to die in your embrace
I need to keep a grave engagement
You?re my power, I?m your disgrace