harmonic
/hɑ:'mɔnik/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Adjective:
- Relating to harmony or musical consonance: Describes sounds that are pleasingly combined, or the study of such combinations.
- Relating to a harmonic or overtone: Pertaining to a component frequency of a complex sound wave that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency.
- Characterized by sympathetic vibration: In physics, describing vibrations in one body caused by vibrations in another at a specific frequency.
- Of or relating to harmonics: Concerning the branch of acoustics or music theory that deals with the structure of musical sounds.
Noun:
- A component tone in a complex sound: A pure tone whose frequency is an integer multiple (e.g., 2x, 3x) of a fundamental frequency. These components combine to create the timbre of a sound.
- An overtone: Specifically, a frequency in the harmonic series above the fundamental pitch.
Examples
Adjective:
- The choir produced a beautifully harmonic sound. (The sound was characterized by pleasing consonance.)
- The guitar string produced a harmonic overtone when lightly touched. (The overtone was part of the harmonic series.)
- The study of harmonic progression is essential for composers. (It relates to the study of chord sequences in harmony.)
Noun:
- The flute's sound is rich in upper harmonics. (The sound contains many component tones at multiples of the fundamental frequency.)
- When you play a note on a piano, you hear the fundamental pitch plus several harmonics. (You hear the main note and its integer-multiple overtones.)
Advanced Usage
- Harmonic analysis: The mathematical study of functions or signals by representing them as a sum of basic sinusoidal components (harmonics).
- Fourier transform is a key tool in harmonic analysis.
- Harmonic mean: In mathematics, a type of average calculated as the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of the reciprocals of the given set of values.
- The harmonic mean is useful for averaging rates.
- Harmonic minor scale: In music theory, a variation of the minor scale with a raised seventh degree, used for harmonic purposes.
- The harmonic minor scale creates a stronger pull toward the tonic chord.
Variants and Related Words
- Harmonically (adverb): In a harmonic manner; relating to harmony.
- The voices were harmonically complex.
- Harmonics (noun, plural): The collective components of a sound that are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency; the study of such phenomena.
- The engineer analyzed the harmonics of the engine noise.
- Harmonize (verb): To add notes to a melody to create harmony; to make consistent.
- The singers will harmonize on the chorus.
- Inharmonic (adjective): Not harmonic; lacking the integer-multiple relationship of frequencies, often producing dissonance.
- The bell's sound was inharmonic and clangorous.
Synonyms
- Consonant (adj): In agreement or harmony; musically concordant.
- Sympathetic (adj): In physics, relating to vibration induced in one body by another.
- Overtone (n): A component of a sound's harmonic series, often used synonymously with 'harmonic' (though technically, the first overtone is the second harmonic).
Related Phrases
- Harmonic series: The infinite sequence of frequencies that are integer multiples of a fundamental frequency.
- The harmonic series is the basis of musical timbre.
- Harmonic progression: In music, a sequence of chords; in mathematics, a sequence of numbers whose reciprocals form an arithmetic progression.
- The song uses a classic harmonic progression.
- Natural harmonic: On a string instrument, a clear, flute-like tone produced by lightly touching the string at a nodal point.
- She played a natural harmonic on the cello.
Adjective
- involving or characterized by harmony
- relating to vibrations that occur as a result of vibrations in a nearby body
- sympathetic vibration
- of or relating to the branch of acoustics that studies the composition of musical sounds
- the sound of the resonating cavity cannot be the only determinant of the harmonic response
- of or relating to harmonics
- of or relating to harmony as distinct from melody and rhythm
- subtleties of harmonic change and tonality- Ralph Hill
Noun
- any of a series of musical tones whose frequencies are integral multiples of the frequency of a fundamental
- a tone that is a component of a complex sound