High-pitched Notes We have seen that high-pitched notes would mean emanation of more sound waves per second.

This would mean that oscillations in terms of the number of cycles per second could be more in the high-pitched note as compared to the low-pitched ones. In other words, the sound waves are stacked together here thus reducing the wavelengths of the high-pitched notes. . The famous musician and musicologist Jacques de Liege, who lived in the 14 th century observed that as we sing upward in a pitch, our voice gradually mounts in intensity towards a greater heights. This intensification, according to him was comparable with the colour or whiteness imparted to a canvas by a painter. He also observed that as a singer ascends from low pitches to high ones, he tends to emit more breath while rendering high notes, as compared to low notes. In addition, with high notes, and as pitch mounts, the sound produced becomes much stronger and more brilliant. A frequency of high-pitched shrill sounds, well over 20,000 Hz (i.e beyond the human audible range) is used by bats for performing echolocation, which makes them fly in the dark without any fear of being hit by hard objects. This frequency also helps them in catching their prey. This frequency which is inaudible to humans has recently been recorded by a research team of Londons Queen Mary College.

Low- pitched Notes The low-pitched sounds are known to reach a farther distance than the high-pitched ones. In old days, to communicate any information among the public, the city administration used huge drums to make booming sounds so that people at a distance could also be alerted/informed of the important events or incidents. Communication in huge castles and forts such as Golconda of Hyderabad was made from one end to the other through series of bheris, the Indian drums made of animal skin and wood, capable of producing low-pitched notes.

In many ancient churches in Europe, one may come across musical organs, some of which could produce deep low-pitched notes of around 10Hz. It is interesting that some of these notes are never heard even by those organists, who create them! However, one could sometimes bodily feel such sound vibrations, repeating somewhat like a throb. At times when such sounds are produced, the coloured glass window panels (vitrines) in the church building may also start making a cluttering noise due to the effect of vibrations. Even the whole building at times could reverberate to such bottom-pitched sound emanations! An example of low-pitch can be heard in the rumble of thunder ( approx. 20 to 40 Hz). Large animals such as blue whales produce low-frequencies (approx. 16 Hz) as compared to the tiny ones like mice which squeak at 3000 Hz (approx.)!