Introduction

Principles of Musical Acoustics focuses on the basic principles in the science and technology of music. Musical examples and specific musical instruments demonstrate the principles. The book begins with a study of vibrations and waves, in that order. These topics constitute the basic physical properties of sound, one of two pillars supporting the science of musical acoustics. The second pillar is the human element, the physiological and psychological aspects of acoustical science. The perceptual topics include loudness, pitch, tone color, and localization of sound. With these two pillars in place, it is possible to go in a variety of directions. The book treats in turn, the topics of room acoustics, audio both analog and digital, broadcasting, and speech. It ends with chapters on the traditional musical instruments, organized by family.



The mathematical level of this book assumes that the reader is familiar with elementary algebra. Trigonometric functions, logarithms and powers also appear in the book, but computational techniques are included as these concepts are introduced, and there is further technical help in appendices.

Keywords

Fourier Analysis of Music Musical Acoustics for Poets Physics for Musicians Psychoacoustics and Music Psychology of Music Science of Music Vibrations and Waves

Authors and affiliations William M. Hartmann 1

1. Michigan State University East Lansing USA