What is pitch?
The pitch of a sound is how high or low the sound is. A high sound has a high pitch and a low sound has a low pitch.
A tight drum skin gives a higher pitched sound than a loose drum skin.
Watch: Pitch and sound waves
Check out this explorers special goggles that help him to see sound waves.
Sounds can be high pitched, like the squeak of a mouse.
Or low pitched, like the roar of a lion.
But what is it that makes these vibrations different?
This explorer is wearing special goggles.
They let him see sounds in the air all around him.
The sounds he sees are like waves.
Some of them are tight squiggly waves, like this.
A drum with a very tight skin makes this sort of wave.
It's what we call a high pitched wave.
And some of the waves are long, loose rolling waves, like this.
A drum with a loose skin makes this sort of wave.
It's what we call a low pitched wave.
Excuse me? Excuse me?
I think you maybe need to take the glasses off. You're about to walk into鈥
Oh. Too late.
Investigating different pitches
We can investigate how to make sounds with different pitches using different lengths of string.
Watch: How to conduct a pitch investigation
An investigation using pieces of string to produce sounds with different pitches.
Which strings on a guitar make the lower-pitched sound, and why?
The thicker strings make lower-pitched sounds because they vibrate slower.
Activities
Activity 1: Quiz
Activity 2: Exploring different pitches
You will need: 3 or 4 glasses or bottles, water and a spoon.
Firstly, fill each glass or bottle with a different amount of water.Then, gently blow across the top of each bottle or tap the glasses once with a spoon.
- What do you notice?
- Which produces the highest pitch? Which produces the lowest pitch? Explain why.
- Can you draw what the sound waves for the highest and lowest pitch may look like?
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