Re: Musical notes, was Re: Hot, Cold, and Temperature

Philippe Caquant wrote:
>
> Maybe it's because high notes are more likely to be
> produced by flying animals (birds, bats) or tiny
> (lighter) ones (mice...), and deep notes by heavy
> animals like bears, mammoths and so on ? (1) I think
> our ancestors knew little about sound frequencies.
> Anyway, even if considering frequencies, why should
> "high" frequencies be high, and low ones, low ? There
> seems to be little spatial meaning in sound.
Because a "high" frequency has a "high" number of waves per second.
Large numbers are "high", small numbers are "low", in English at any
rate.

My theory, however, about high notes vs. low notes is that when you
produce a high note, you raise your larynx, and in men, it's rather
obvious to an observer what's going on.  So, you raise your Adam's
apple, it's a high note, you lower it, it's a low note.