Principles of Musical Acoustics

William M. Hartmann

Informasi Umum

Kode

20.21.463

Klasifikasi

780.148 - Musical notation, abbreviations, symbols

Jenis

Buku - Elektronik (E-Book)

Subjek

Music

No. Rak

24

Informasi Lainnya

Abstraksi

Musical acoustics is a scientic discipline that attempts to put the entire range of human musical activity under the microscope of science. Because science seeks understanding, the goal of musical acoustics is nothing less than to understand howmusic“works,”physicallyandpsychologically.Accordingly,musicalacoustics is multidisciplinary. At a minimum it requires input from physics, physiology, psychology, and several engineering technologies involved in the creation and reproductionof musical sound. As a scientiic discipline, musical acoustics poses several questions. The first question has to be, “Why would anyone want to study it?” Unlike some other scienti?c pursuits, it is unlikely to improve the health of the population, nor is it likely to be the engine that drives the economy to new heights. The answer to the question lies within the appeal of music itself. Music is fundamentallyimportant to human beings—it has been a part of every culture throughout history. Nothing has greater capability to inspire human emotions. Thus musical acoustics is an attempt to take a rational approach to a human activity that is essentially emotional. In the end, music is compelling. It compels us to listen to it, to create it, and ultimately to try to understandit. Musical acoustics is an ancientscience—therationalapproachtomusic was part of the ancient Greek quadrivium.Musical acoustics also claims an ancient technology.Forinstance,thegreatestviolinsinhistoryweremadeintheeighteenthcentury. Is there any other scienti?c discipline where the peak of a relevant technology occurred more than 200 years ago? At the same time, musical acoustics is modern. New electronicmethodsofproducing,processing,andrecordingmusicappearwith every new year. The discipline forms an important part of our rapidly developing worldwide communications technology, and the study of music processing by the human brain is an important aspect of contemporaryneuroscience