A flute and a violin both play concert A (440 Hz) at the same loudness. (a) What is the frequency of the note one octave above concert A? (b) If the flute's tone contains mainly the fundamental plus a weak 2nd harmonic, while the violin's tone contains strong harmonics up to the 8th, explain which sounds brighter and why. Solution: (a) One octave up means double the frequency: 880 Hz. (b) The violin sounds brighter because brightness (timbre) comes from the strength of upper harmonics; the violin's rich set of harmonics up to 8 x 440 = 3520 Hz gives it an edgy, brilliant colour, while the flute's near-sine tone sounds pure and mellow.