An instructive thing to do is play with the draw bars or software
equivalents on an organ, or organ-like synth where you can adjust
the relative volumes of the fundamental pitch of a note, then it's
first, second, third, fourth etc. harmonics. That gets you used to
the idea that all sounds have a fundamental or root frequency, but
also varying amounts of frequency energy in even or odd number
multiples of the fundamental frequency. These supplementary tones
above the fundamental are usually called harmonics oar partials.
Why does a flute sound different from a trumpet or piano, even if
they all play the same note? Because of the relative strength of
various harmonics in the sound of each of those instruments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_%28music%29
Chris
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