Saturday, November 6, 2010

All Instruments Are Pitched

While studying the tuning systems of other cultures recently, I had a realization (that may not have anything to do with tuning systems). There is no such thing as an un-pitched instrument. Many people site that certain percussion instruments, like drums, are un-pitched, but that's not true. They are pitched; it's just that their overtones are inharmonic, meaning their overtones simply do not point to a strong fundamental. According to Thai tuning systems, "un-pitched" percussion instruments are considered just as pitched as we in the West consider "pitched" instruments to be. What we consider "un-pitched" instruments (drums, etc.) should really just be called "enharmonic," because they do have pitch. Their pitches are just more ambiguous.