Changes

In music '''pitch''' is the perception of the [[frequency]] of a sound wave. A sound wave can be conceptualized like a rope tide on one end while someone else oscillates it up and down on the other end. If you look at only one point you will see that the rope has a high point and a low point. If you pick one point to focus on, say the high point, you will find that it appears with regular occurrence. The speed at which this re-occurrence takes place is the frequency, usually measured in [[hertz]].  

In music '''pitch''' is the perception of the [[frequency]] of a sound wave. A sound wave can be conceptualized like a rope tide on one end while someone else oscillates it up and down on the other end. If you look at only one point you will see that the rope has a high point and a low point. If you pick one point to focus on, say the high point, you will find that it appears with regular occurrence. The speed at which this re-occurrence takes place is the frequency, usually measured in [[hertz]].  

The human brain receives input form sensory neurons in the ear that communicate the frequency of a noise to the [[audio cortex]]. The [[right hemisphere]] audio cortex specializes in discriminating differences between frequency. These subtle differences are what we hear as the pitch of the note, usually described as how low or high. The right hemisphere audio cortex is capable of differentiating pitches with in 1/4 of a [[semi-tone]].  

The human brain receives input form sensory neurons in the ear that communicate the frequency of a noise to the [[audio cortex]]. The [[right hemisphere]] audio cortex specializes in discriminating differences between frequency. These subtle differences are what we hear as the pitch of the [[note (music)|note]], usually described as how low or high. The right hemisphere audio cortex is capable of differentiating pitches with in 1/4 of a [[semi-tone]].  

Much of the [[grammatical structure]] of [[human language]] is based on changes in pitch or tone. There is strong evidence that the same are of the brain that processes pitch for music also processes the pitch for language. There are people who can not differentiate between pitches very well. These people are referred to as having [[amusia]] or more commonly called "tone deaf." Those suffering from amusia can not detect a change in pitch greater than 2 [[semi-tone | semi-tones]]. This makes much of music difficult to understand and sound very similar. The interesting thing is that most human language pitch changes are in the order of 7 semi-tones, so those with amusia do not show any deficit in language.

Much of the [[grammatical structure]] of [[human language]] is based on changes in pitch or tone. There is strong evidence that the same are of the brain that processes pitch for music also processes the pitch for language. There are people who can not differentiate between pitches very well. These people are referred to as having [[amusia]] or more commonly called "tone deaf." Those suffering from amusia can not detect a change in pitch greater than 2 [[semi-tone | semi-tones]]. This makes much of music difficult to understand and sound very similar. The interesting thing is that most human language pitch changes are in the order of 7 semi-tones, so those with amusia do not show any deficit in language.