Tips On Critical Listening: Observations on Timbre

"Timbre" is simply the specific sound of instruments, either alone or in combination. You might call it the musical equivalent of color in the visual arts. We don't have a scientific or scholarly way of describing timbre's effect on the listener, or of measuring its contribution to the formal structure of a large work, but it's incredibly important nonetheless. The great composers know this and exploit it accordingly. Musical Examples courtesy of Naxos Records