Pitch and Frequency

Sound is a Wave

Sound is a wave. When you clap your hands, pluck a string, or hit a drum, it makes the air wiggle! These wiggles are called sound waves, and they travel to your ears. It’s like when you throw a rock into water and see ripples spreading out. Sound waves are like ripples, but they move through the air instead of water!

What is Oscillation?

Imagine a swing going back and forth at the playground. That back-and-forth motion is called oscillation. In sound waves, the air wiggles back and forth like the swing. This is how sound travels, bringing us music, talking, and all the sounds we hear!

What is Frequency?

Let’s talk about how fast those swings—or waves—move. Frequency is a big word that means "how many times something wiggles back and forth in one second." Scientists use a special name for this: hertz (Hz). It’s like counting how many times a swing goes back and forth every second!

High and Low Sounds

If something wiggles 440 times every second, its frequency is 440 Hz. That’s the sound of the A note in the middle of a piano.

Your ears hear different frequencies as high or low sounds:

A high frequency sounds like a bird chirping or a whistle.
A low frequency sounds like a drum or a big dog’s bark.

The faster something wiggles, the higher the sound. The slower it wiggles, the lower the sound. Fun, right?