by REGINALD BAIN
Musicians freely use the terms overtones, harmonics and partials interchangably. All three terms refer to the pattern of frequency components that appear above the fundamental pitch we perceive, however, there are a few minor distinctions between these terms that should be discussed here. Perhaps the most important distinction is that both harmonic numbers and partial numbers correspond to frequency-multiple numbers, and overtone numbers do not. The table in Fig. 1 is designed to allow you to compare the conventions:
Fig. 1. A comparison of harmonic, partial and overtone naming conventions. Pitch Name String
LengthFrequency Frequency-multiple HARMONICS PARTIALS OVERTONES C2 1:1 64 Hz. f0 Fundamental First partial Fundamental C3 1:2 129 Hz. 2 f0 Second harmonic Second partial First overtone G3 1:3 192 Hz. 3 f0 Third harmonic Third partial Second overtone C4 1:4 256 Hz. 4 f0 Fourth harmonic Fourth partial Third overtone E4 1:5 320 Hz. 5 f0 Fifth harmonic Fifth partial Fourth overtone G4 1:6 384 Hz. 6 f0 Sixth harmonic Sixth partial Fifth overtone etc. First, note that the first overtone is actually the 2nd partial or 2nd harmonic, the second overtone is the 3rd partial or 3rd harmonic, and so on. The columns from left-to-right are US Standard pitch notation, string length correspondant, frequency in Hz., frequency-multiple notation, and numerical name for harmonics, partials and overtones, respectively. The table lists the first six members of a harmonic series on C2.
The term harmonic would seem to imply a given overtone is harmonically-related to its fundamental. As such, the term partial is often preferable, especially when a given overtone is inharmonic. In his book The Science of Musical Acoustics, John Pierce suggests the use of the terms harmonic partial and inharmonic partial to avoid the use of the very awkward term harmonic harmonic.
Updated: March 30, 2002Reginald Bain | University of South Carolina | School of Music | Disclaimer
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A Web-based Multimedia Approach to the Harmonic Series: Overtone Naming Conventions© 1997-2003 Reginald Bain. All rights reserved.