Many are familiar with the terms “high” and “low” pitch. But are they universal? Definitely not. In an online resource put together by Jon Silpayamanant, many other terms have been collected, that imply a very different relationship to sound: “large” and “small”, “thick” and “thin”, and even “crocodile” and “those who follow crocodile.” Here’s more from CDM:
This is a non-exhaustive list, but there are already fascinating examples – and the “high”/”low” binary isn’t all that common, even in more familiar music traditions. For convenience, higher frequency numbers are marked “high” and lower frequencies “low.” See, I just revealed a bias built into the English language – we use that vertical spatial metaphor to describe quantities as high and low, which is also not universal. It matters to design, too, in that it means you don’t have to use high and low visual representation in interfaces.
Even the ancient Greeks used oxys and barys – “sharp” and “heavy.” Large and small, strong and weak, and thick and thin are common metaphors. For instance, Persian music uses “thick” and “thin” in Farsi. If you reflect on those, those are each pretty good reflections of how differently pitched instruments look and feel, and how the wavelengths behave. Many use words related to voice, indicating an association with speech and singing.
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