Monday, May 14, 2012

Appliances and Music

I found out today that the musical pitch the exhaust fan in my bathroom produces due to its vibration is 'E'.

For a long time I wondered how I could perfectly attune myself to any song in my bathroom. Why would I feel so comfortable singing any song in the drone of my bathroom? Today, it occurred to me that I must try and tally it with the notes on the Tanpura app that I downloaded on my mobile some time ago. And to my surprise, the resonance was the same!!

Although I am not a bathroom singer, bathroom almost becomes my singing room - not only for the bathroom tenor, but also due to the drone of the exhaust fan - Every space has a frequency! Similarly, the tubelight at Opolis architects where I used to work used to make a distinct hum. I would occassionally reach office early, and switch on the tubelights without the fans to have that resonance in the space. In the absence of any one, I would be humming along songs comfortably. I am sure it too must be on a similar pitch. 

Chaitanya had helped me find out my pitch recently when we met for a singing session. He suggested me to sing at E, which is generally the pitch for male voices. It was E! 

How interesting it is to find out such trivialities around our everyday lives. Some great coincidences! I will try to record the hum of my exhaust fan and put it here. Some great intersections of men and machines.

Till then, happy singing!

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