Words to know: timbre
If this is your first time learning about music theory, you are in the right place! This post will show you everything you need to know to get started writing or understanding timbre. If you already have a basic understanding of music, feel free to skip ahead to one of my other lessons.
The elements of music are rhythm, dynamics, form, melody, harmony, tempo, timbre, and texture, and are basically the building block of every song. Some of the elements go by different names in different parts of the world, but no matter what they’re called a piece of music can’t exist without them. Understanding how to use the elements together is the first step to being a great musician. Let’s get started!
What is Timbre?
First, let’s talk about how to pronounce “timbre.” It looks like the word “timber” but is not pronounced the same. It is actually pronounced as “tam-burr.”
Timbre is one of the easier elements of music to understand. Timbre can refer to either the specific sound of an instrument, or what instruments you can hear in a piece of music. For example, you could think of timbre as the sound of a clarinet versus a guitar or a piano versus a drum. You could also think of it as listening to a piece of music and being able to name off the instruments you hear.
For the purposes of timbre, everything counts as an “instrument.” So if you’re listening to a song and you hear a voice singing, it’s still an instrument with a timbre. If the producer of the music puts a water droplet sound sample in the song, that droplet has a timbre. Two different electric guitars may be the same kind of instrument but they could have two different timbres.
Example
When I teach timbre to my students I like to use the song “House of Gold” by 21 Pilots, because the instruments it uses are easily recognizable and they add one or two instruments at a time instead of all of them at once. If you listen to that song, it starts with a very percussive string sound. It may be hard to tell at first but that is played on a muted ukulele. The next new sound is a singer, followed by the un-muted ukulele. Even though this is the same instrument as before, it is being played in a different way so it has a different timbre.
As the song progresses, the band adds a piano, bass guitar, bass drum, tambourine, and strings in the background. You can hear each one of these come in (the strings are a little hard to hear), and each time a new instrument comes in a new timbre also comes in.
The next time you listen to a piece of music by your favorite band, see how many different instruments you can pick out!
Recap
In this lesson we talked about timbre. We learned how it is pronounced, and that it could mean either the sound of an instrument or the sounds you hear in a song. We also looked at some examples of different timbres and one example of a song where the timbre changes as new instruments are added.
When you feel comfortable with timbre, go on to my next lesson on texture! There is a lot more to learn about music and I’m happy to be able to help.
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Thanks for reading, and have fun making music!
Sam Adams Studio 