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Can someone explain this?

  • 11-11-2010 04:28PM
    #1
    Stompbox
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,811 ✭✭✭


    Why is it that lower frequency notes are typically considered as a rhythmic vehicle and higher notes are used for melody? This obviously doesn't hold true in all cases but is there a musical explanation for this? Is it because higher notes can be treated with a wider ranges of tones and timbres or does it go deeper than that? Is our own neurochemistry responsible for this?


Comments

  • #2
    rcaz
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,034 ✭✭✭rcaz


    Because lower notes move with greater force maybe? If you've listened to dubstep in a night club, for one example, you'd have heard the way bass can have a physical impact on you. Sometimes you can't even hear it, just feel it.

    Bass live in the same frequency spectrum as lower percussion, like kicks and bass drums, I guess that has something to do with it.

    I reckon a lot of it stems from whatever the done thing in classical music was. The cellos and contrabasses get the harmony and rhythm, and the violins get to show off. And it just never changed much?


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