In the accompanying table will be found the component parts of tones upon a few instruments in common use.
TONE COMPOSITION.
The components of the tones are indicated by lines in the column underneath the figures representing the series. Thus the narrow-stopped organ-pipe gives a sound composed of a fundamental, and overtones three, five, seven, and nine times the number of vibrations of it.
TONE COMPOSITION.
| INSTRUMENTS. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| ORGAN PIPES. | ||||||||||
| Wide stopped | / | |||||||||
| Narrow stopped | / | / | / | / | / | |||||
| Narrow cylinder | / | / | / | / | / | / | ||||
| Principal (Wood) | / | / | / | |||||||
| Conically narrow at top. | / | / | / | / | ||||||
| Flute | / | / | / | / | ||||||
| Violin | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | / |
| Piano | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | ||
| Bell | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | |||
| Clarionet | / | / | / | / | / | |||||
| Bassoon | / | / | / | / | / | / | / | |||
| Oboe | / | / | / | / | / | / | / |
It must not be inferred that all of the overtones are of equal strength: they are very far from that; but these differ in different instruments, and it is this that constitutes the difference between a good instrument and a poor one of the same name.
In a few of the spaces very light lines are made for the purpose of indicating that such overtones are quite weak. For instance: the piano has the sixth, seventh, and eighth thus marked; these tones being suppressed by the mechanism, as described on a former page.
Only a few of the many forms of organ-pipes are given; but these are sufficient to show what a physical difference there is between the musical tones in such pipes.
As for the human voice, it is very rich in overtones; but no two voices are alike, therefore it would be impossible to tabulate the components of it in the manner they are tabulated for musical instruments.