Sound and Music| Sound and Music |
In General
@ And physics: Rigden 85;
Roederer 95;
Johnston 09;
Parker 09
[r PT(10)aug].
@ And mathematics: Mazzola 85,
03;
Segre m.HO/04 [tonal harmony];
Zweifel JSP(05);
Loy 07 [r PT(08)dec];
Demaine et al CG(09) [distance geometry and rhythms].
@ And the history of science: Levenson 94.
@ Related topics:
Hsu & Hsu PNAS(91) [fractal music];
Godwin 93 [music of the spheres];
news Nat(04)nov [and composer's language];
news pt(19)jun
[music in terms of statistical mechanics concepts].
Musical Instruments
* Earliest instruments:
50,000 BC, recorder-style bone flute found in a Slovenian cave.
@ General references: Fletcher & Rossing 98;
Jackson 06 [physicists, musicians, and instrument makers in XIX-century Germany];
Campbell PT(14)apr;
Chaigne & Kergomard 16;
Bennett 18.
@ Drums: Rossing PT(92)mar;
Rossing 00;
Malu & Siddharthan mp/00.
@ Keyboard instruments: Lubenow & Meyn EJP(07) [tuning];
Giordano 10 [piano];
news pt(15)may [longitudinal waves].
@ Percussion: Rossing et al PT(96)mar [steel drums];
Suits AJP(01)jul [xylophone and marimbas].
@ Violin:
Schumacher & Woodhouse CP(95) [computer model];
Gough pw(00)apr [Stradivarius];
Wali 09 [Cremona violins].
@ Wind instruments: Campbell CP(99) [reed and brass dynamics];
Cottingham PT(11)mar [free-reed instruments].
@ Cognitive aspects: Leman 95.
Human Hearing and Voice
* Ranges: 2 × 10−10
to 2 × 10−4 atm for tonal hearing without damage, can discriminate
Δf / f = 0.0015.
* Hearing: Our ears can almost hear the wisper of the brownian motion.
@ Hearing: De Boer PRP(80),
PRP(84),
PRP(91), and refs;
Sataloff SA(92)dec;
Hartmann PT(99)nov [sound localization];
Duke pw(02)may;
Deutsch PT(10)feb [hearing music in ensembles];
Martignoli & Stoop PRL(10) [pitch perception];
Kraus PT(11)jun [how experience molds the perception of sound];
Ushakov et al PRL(11)
+ news prf(11)sep
+ sn(11)sep [musical chord perception];
news PhysOrg(13)feb,
ns(13)feb [human hearing beats the Fourier uncertainty principle];
Gomez et al PRApp(14)
+ news isns(14)mar [tuning in and listening];
news pt(14)apr [pitch and spatial directions].
@ Hearing, books: Helmholtz 1877;
Handel 93; Luce 93;
Peretz & Zatorre ed-03,
ed-01 [biological foundations of music].
@ The ear: Ramm PLA(06) [shape of ear canal];
news pw(13)apr [how the ear responds to very soft sounds].
@ Speech and language: Werker AS(89);
Olive et al 93 [American English];
Patel 10 [and music, cognitive neuroscience];
Myers PT(17)apr [sound processing and meaning].
Psychoacoustics > s.a. sound.
* Frequency and pitch:
Not exactly the same thing; Very low frequencies all give the same
pitch; Intensity affects pitch.
* Non-linear effects:
Our ear partly integrates sounds, up to 50 ms (reverberation increases
loudness); We can perceive difference tones Δf corresponding
to non-existing frequencies, and beats between different ears!
@ General references: Roederer 95;
Howard 96;
Fastl & Zwicker 06 [e2 r PT(01)jun];
Cook & Hayashi AS(08)#4 [harmony perception];
Heller 12
[r PT(13)apr,
AJP(14)mar].
@ Frequency vs perceived pitch: Neuhoff & McBeath AJP(97)jul [Doppler effect].
@ Processing in the brain: Deutsch SA(92)aug;
Cartwright et al PRL(99)
+ pn(99)jun [non-linear].
Architectural Acoustics
* Idea: For sound quality, want to
increase direct sound vs diffuse sound, but for spaciousness want some reflections
from side walls; Optimal width is smaller than depth – shoebox shape.
@ References:
Thompson 02;
news pw(13)jun [how to hear the shape of a room];
Lokki PT(14)jan [concert halls].
Other References
@ I: Hall TPT(89) [experiments with a guitar];
Kruth & Stobart ed-00.
@ General references: Strong & Plitnik 92;
Taylor 92;
Rossing & Fletcher 95;
Rossing et al 02;
Berg & Stork 04;
Hartmann 13.
@ Sound Spectrum (Wall Chart, 56 × 86 cm) SF: The Exploratorium 93
[r AJP(94)aug Rossing].
@ Related topics: Rose ed-10 [neurology of music];
Hodges & Sebald 10 [music psychology].
> Online resources:
see Exploratorium page.
main page
– abbreviations
– journals – comments
– other sites – acknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 30 dec 2019