question_answer

What are overtones and harmonics? The presence of which makes a sound musical? Or Distinguish between harmonics and overtones.

Answer:

                A vibrating system such as a stretched         string, an air column, etc., can vibrate with a number of frequencies. The mode with lowest frequency is called fundamental mode and others are called overtones. When the frequencies of overtones are exact multiples of the fundamental frequency, they are called harmonics. The fundamental itself is called first harmonic. The presence of the harmonics makes a sound musical.