While the history of musical instruments is nearly as old as civilisation itself, the science of acoustics is quite recent. By understanding the physical basis of how instruments are used to make music, one hopes ultimately to be able to give physical criteria to distinguish a fine instrument from a mediocre one. At that point science may be able to come to the aid of art in improving the design and performance of musical instruments. As yet, many of the subtleties in musical sounds of which instrument makers and musicians are aware remain beyond the reach of modern acoustic measurements. This book describes the results of such acoustical investigations - fascinating intellectual and practical exercises. Addressed to readers with a reasonable grasp of physics who are not put off by a little mathematics, this book discusses most of the traditional instruments currently in use in Western music. A guide for all who have an interest in music and how it is produced, as well as serving as a comprehensive reference for those undertaking research in the field.

An ideal text for advanced undergraduates, the book provides the foundations needed to understand the acoustics of rooms and musical instruments as well as the basics for scientists and engineers interested in noise and vibration. The new edition contains four new chapters devoted primarily to applications of acoustical principles in everyday life: Microphones and Other Transducers, Sound in Concert Halls and Studios, Sound and Noise Outdoors; and Underwater Sound.

An ideal text for advanced undergraduates, the book provides the foundations needed to understand the acoustics of rooms and musical instruments as well as the basics for scientists and engineers interested in noise and vibration. The new edition contains four new chapters devoted primarily to applications of acoustical principles in everyday life: Microphones and Other Transducers, Sound in Concert Halls and Studios, Sound and Noise Outdoors; and Underwater Sound.

Some years ago we set out to write a detailed book about the basic physics of musical instruments. There have been many admirable books published about the history of the development of musical instruments, about their construction as a master craft, and about their employment in musical perfor mance; several excellent books have treated the acoustics of musical instru ments in a semiquantitative way; but none to our knowledge had then at tempted to assemble the hard acoustic information available in the research literature and to make it available to a wider readership. Our book The Physics of Musical Instruments, published by Springer-Verlag in 1991 and subsequently reprinted several times with only minor corrections, was the outcome of our labor. Because it was our aim to make our discussion of musical instruments as complete and rigorous as possible, our book began with a careful introduction to vibrating and radiating systems important in that field. We treated simple linear oscillators, both in isolation and coupled together, and extended that to a discussion of some aspects of driven and autonomous nonlinear oscilla tors. Because musical instruments are necessarily extended structures, we then went on to discuss the vibrations of strings, bars, membranes, plates, and shells, paying particular attention to the mode structures and characteristic frequencies, for it is these that are musically important."

While the history of musical instruments is nearly as old as civilisation itself, the science of acoustics is quite recent. By understanding the physical basis of how instruments are used to make music, one hopes ultimately to be able to give physical criteria to distinguish a fine instrument from a mediocre one. At that point science may be able to come to the aid of art in improving the design and performance of musical instruments. As yet, many of the subtleties in musical sounds of which instrument makers and musicians are aware remain beyond the reach of modern acoustic measurements. This book describes the results of such acoustical investigations - fascinating intellectual and practical exercises. Addressed to readers with a reasonable grasp of physics who are not put off by a little mathematics, this book discusses most of the traditional instruments currently in use in Western music. A guide for all who have an interest in music and how it is produced, as well as serving as a comprehensive reference for those undertaking research in the field.

This book is a practical guide for researchers and advanced graduate students in biology and biophysics who need a quantitative understanding of acoustical systems such as hearing, sound production, and vibration detection in animals at the physiological level. It begins with an introduction to physical acoustics, covering the fundamental concepts and showing how they can be applied quantitatively to understand auditory and sound-producing systems in animals. Only after the relatively simple mechanical part of the system is explained does the author focus his attention on the underlying physiological processes. The book is written on three levels. For those wanting a brief survey of the field, each chapter begins with a nonmathematical synopsis which summarizes the content and refers to the figures, all of which are designed to be understood apart from the main text. At the next level, the reader can follow the main text, but need not give close attention to anything but the general concepts and techniques involved. At the third level, the reader should follow the mathematical arguments in detail and attempt the discussion of questions at the end of each chapter. The author has provided detailed solutions which serve to expand the discussions of particular cases.