Musical analysis
We will use spectrograms (short-time Fourier transforms) to
analyze music. Here is a simple example of
a spectrogram of 3 pure tones (single pitches). Click on the link below
the spectrogram to watch a video
of it being traced out as the tones are played. The dark horizontal bands
mark off the increasing pitches.
Here is a more complex spectrogram that we will analyze in
the course (it is a passage from the jazz classic,
Harlem Air Shaft:
We also analyze musical rhythm. Here is a picture
that displays the individual strikes of a drum (at the top of
the figure) and also the grouping of the strikes (in the middle of the figure).
Play the video at least twice to confirm
that it records the individual strike times and that it records the grouping of
different strikes.
