When it comes to making music, one of the greatest underappreciated skills is the ability to listen. Whether you're a singer, producer, or instrumentalist, being able to accurately describe what you're experiencing can help you tune your ears and create more refined compositions.

With that in mind, understanding musical tone is key to your success as an artist. Below, we'll decode everything you need to know about complex tone across the musical scale so that you can build your own unique sound with confidence.

Defining Tones in Music

The term "tone" can be confusing, because it can mean several different things in and outside the music industry. We'll outline each in detail below, but tones can essentially be used to describe a specific pitch, the sound quality of a pitch, or subjective qualities a listener perceives when listening to a piece of music.

Specific Musical Notes

The term tone is often used in place of "pitch" or the specific musical notes being performed. There are twelve known pitches that exist, otherwise called semitones. Individual tones start at the lowest point or the fundamental frequency, rise by each semitone, until repeating the chromatic scale an octave above once all of the unique notes have been showcased.

You might also hear semitones being referred to as a "half step" in music theory. Two semitones or two half steps are equal to a whole step. Understanding the relationship between one single frequency to the next is critical for understanding how to build scales and chords from the ground up.

Semitone Intervals

"Tones" may also refer to describing a particular interval or relationship between two sounds. For instance, you might describe the tone as "pentatonic" if you notice that the melody of a piece borrows from that scale. You might also use adjectives like consonant or dissonant discussed below to communicate whether the performed tones has a lot of tension.

Sound Quality

The most subjective use of the term "tone" refers to how a piece of music or instrument sounds. For instance, a flute may sound "bright" while a tuba might have more of a "nasal" tone. These are not objective measurements, just ways of describing the sound quality of any particular noise. On sheet music, you might see specific tone markings like "dolce" which means to perform the piece with an adoring, sweet manner as interpreted by your conductor.

Tone vs. Pitch: What's the Difference?

As explained above, tone can refer to many things, including the specific musical notes or pitch performed in a piece. However, tone can also refer to the relationship between notes, or describe the subjective sound quality of a piece.

Pitch, by contrast, is a more definite term. The pitch refers to the twelve tones or semitones, each which reside at a set frequency point. A pitch is an objective measurement. It is a pure tone played at a set point which produces one semitone or spot on the chromatic scale.

Identifying Tones in Music: The Four Factors

When we describe tones in music, we often use words like bright, nasal, round, wide, or other descriptions to define a sound. While you can come up with endless terminology to identify tones, all tones in music can be described by pitch, volume, timbre, and texture.

Pitch

Pitch is the note or frequency at which a sound is produced. There are 12 distinct semitones to choose from, each with their own frequency.

Volume

Volume, or amplitude, is how loud or soft a tone is played. This quality speaks to a particular tone's sense of dynamics.

Timbre

Timbre is sometimes referred to as tone color. The timbre of a tone speaks to how warm or bright a particular sound is. Even if two instruments are playing the same pitch, they will sound different because they have a distinct timbre sound quality.

Texture

Texture in music is a more contextual term. It refers to how a pitch sounds within reference to the rest of a composition. For instance, an instrument played solo would have a monophonic texture. An instrument played within the context of a full song would be more complex and hold a polyphonic texture.

Different Types of Tone with Examples

Tones more of less fall into two categories: consonant or dissonant sounds. These broad groups can be used to convey different emotions and evoke various feelings for listeners. Different note combinations build various musical tones.

Consonant

Consonant refers to a musical sound that has a melodious quality, shimmering in harmonic overtones that is typically very pleasing to the ear. When you hear consonant sounds, they give a sense of stability in the music. Examples of consonant sounds could be two notes of the same pitch played simultaneously, or naturally melodic intervals like the perfect fifth or octave.

For instance, you might consider Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star to be a very consonant song because it exemplifies the tonic or key of the song with simple harmonies:

Dissonant

By contrast, dissonant sounds are characterized by tension, instability, and a pull to resolve back at the tonic note of a key. This tone is used deliberately to communicate complex emotions like anger, fear, or sadness. You may classify Beethoven's famous 5th symphony as having a very dissonant tone:

Tones in Music FAQ

Use these commonly asked questions and answers to help you master the art of tone in music.

What are the different tones in music?

In terms of distinct musical tones or notes, there are 12 total notes that repeat at higher or lower octaves once a scale has been completed. These individual notes can also be referred to as semitones.

What are some tone examples?

Musical tone can simply refer to the way in which we describe sound quality and different instruments. For instance, we may use words like nasally, wide, round, joyful, or subdued to describe the tone quality of a singer or musical instrument.

What are harmonic overtones?

Overtones, also known as harmonics, are high notes that exist at a certain ratio above a certain tone or frequency. They have a unique tone quality which can sometimes be described as light or glassy.

How do you identify tones in music?

Identifying tones in music, or rather semitones, comes down to focused ear training. Unless you're one of the lucky few with perfect pitch, you'll have to train your ears to distinguish one tone from the next. This process isn't easy, but it can certainly be learned with enough practice.

Tones quality and notes as we know them can have a significant impact on how we consume and connect with music. Use the guide as a reference to help you distinguish and shape sounds to your advantage.