The Physics of the Violin

The Physics of the Violin
Author: Lothar Cremer
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
Total Pages: 450
Release: 1984
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780262031028

This major work covers almost all that has been learned about the acoustics of stringed instruments from Helmholtz's 19th-century theoretical elaborations to recent electroacoustic and holographic measurements.Many of the results presented here were uncovered by the author himself (and by his associates and students) over a 20-year period of research on the physics of instruments in the violin family. Lothar Cremer is one of the world's most respected authorities on architectural acoustics and, not incidentally, an avid avocational violinist and violist.The book - which was published in German in 1981 - first of all meets the rigorous technical standards of specialists in musical acoustics. But it also serves the needs and interests of two broader groups: makers and players of stringed instruments are expressly addressed, since the implications of the mathematical formulations are fully outlined and explained; and acousticians in general will find that the work represents a textbook illustration of the application of fundamental principles and up-to-date techniques to a specific problem.The first - and longest - of the book's three parts investigates the oscillatory responses of bowed (and plucked) strings. The natural nonlinearities that derive from considerations of string torsion and bending stiffness are deftly handled and concisely modeled.The second part deals with the body of the instrument. Special attention is given to the bridge, which transmits the oscillations of the strings to the wooden body and its air cavity. In this case, linear modeling proves serviceable for the most part - a simplification that would not be possible with lute - like instruments such as the guitar.The radiation of sound from the body into the listener's space, which is treated as an extension of the instrument itself, is the subject of the book's final part.Lothar Cremer is Professor Emeritus at the Technical University of Berlin, where he served as director of the Institute for Acoustical Engineering.

The Physics of Musical Instruments

The Physics of Musical Instruments
Author: Neville H. Fletcher
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 763
Release: 2013-11-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0387216030

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.

The Science of String Instruments

The Science of String Instruments
Author: Thomas D. Rossing
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2010-12-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1441971106

Thomas D. Rossing String instruments are found in almost all musical cultures. Bowed string instruments form the backbone of symphony orchestras, and they are used widely as solo inst- ments and in chamber music as well. Guitars are used universally in pop music as well as in classical music. The piano is probably the most versatile of all musical inst- ments, used widely not only in ensemble with other musical instruments but also as a solo instrument and to accompany solo instruments and the human voice. In this book, various authors will discuss the science of plucked, bowed, and hammered string instruments as well as their electronic counterparts. We have tried to tell the fascinating story of scienti?c research with a minimum of mathematics to maximize the usefulness of the book to performers and instrument builders as well as to students and researchers in musical acoustics. Sometimes, however, it is dif?cult to “translate” ideas from the exact mathematical language of science into words alone, so we include some basic mathematical equations to express these ideas. It is impossible to discuss all families of string instruments. Some instruments have been researched much more than others. Hopefully, the discussions in this book will help to encourage further scienti?c research by both musicians and scientists alike. 1.1 A Brief History of the Science of String Instruments Quite a number of good histories of acoustics have been written (Lindsay 1966, 1973; Hunt 1992; Beyer 1999), and these histories include musical acoustics.

Tonalization

Tonalization
Author: Dr. Shinichi Suzuki
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 60
Release:
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781457401190

Dr. Suzuki questioned why all vocalists vocalize every day to improve their voices, but instrumentalists do not do so every day with their instruments. He believes that on any instrument, one needs to practice to make a more beautiful tone. First he talks about playing a beautiful resonant tone with the bow while plucking the string with a finger. When a pizzicato is played, the resonance goes on for a long time. Students should listen to that resonance and play the same kind of clear beautiful sound. He talks about how to make a difference in the tone by using a different bow speed, how to practice to find the resonance point, how to change the weight of the arm on the bow to produce a different kind of tone, and how to change tone color. This book includes all of Dr. Suzuki's basic ideas about tone.

Cremona Violins

Cremona Violins
Author: Kameshwar C. Wali
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2010
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9812791108

This book contains a brief account of the history of Cremona violins - the rise and fall of the art that dominated over two centuries - and is primarily devoted to The physics behind the violin acoustics, specifically the research of William F "Jack" Fry over the past four decades and more. it chronicles his early research and The evolution of his ideas leading to a holistic approach to its acoustics, In sharp contrast to The conventional "reductionist" approach. With rare insights, he has come closer than anyone before in reproducing the sound of the great Italian masters. This historic achievement makes the book extremely valuable for violin makers, violin researchers, and young and aspiring violinists who would like to own excellent-sounding instruments with all the desirable characteristics of old instruments at affordable prices.

Einstein's Violin

Einstein's Violin
Author: Joseph Eger
Publisher: Tarcher
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

"Eger's life is a social and artistic tour through music and science of the twentieth century. In Einstein's Violin, readers encounter portraits of figures including Leonard Bernstein, David Bohm, Albert Einstein, Queen Noor al Hussein, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Eger also probes the origins of ancient music in the hands of the Hebrews. Egyptians, Hindus, ancient Chinese, and the schools of Pythagoras to plumb the sources of this socially and physically unifying language of the universe."--BOOK JACKET.

How Music Works

How Music Works
Author: John Powell
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2010-11-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0316183679

"Any readers whose love of music has somehow not led them to explore the technical side before will surely find the result a thoroughly accessible, and occasionally revelatory, primer."—Seattle Post-Intelligencer What makes a musical note different from any other sound? How can you tell if you have perfect pitch? Why do ten violins sound only twice as loud as one? Do your Bob Dylan albums sound better on CD vinyl? John Powell, a scientist and musician, answers these questions and many more in How Music Works, an intriguing and original guide to acoustics. In a clear and engaging voice, Powell leads you on a fascinating journey through the world of music, with lively discussions of the secrets behind harmony timbre, keys, chords, loudness, musical composition, and more. From how musical notes came to be (you can thank a group of stodgy men in 1939 London for that one), to how scales help you memorize songs, to how to make and oboe from a drinking straw, John Powell distills the science and psychology of music with wit and charm.

Physics of the Piano

Physics of the Piano
Author: Nicholas J. Giordano
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2016-10-27
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0192506633

Why does a piano sound like a piano? A similar question can be asked of virtually all musical instruments. A particular note-such as middle C-can be produced by a piano, a violin, a clarinet, and many other instruments, yet it is easy for even a musically untrained listener to distinguish between these different instruments. A central quest in the study of musical instruments is to understand why the sound of the "same" note depends greatly on the instrument, and to elucidate which aspects of an instrument are most critical in producing the musical tones characteristic of the instrument. The primary goal of this book is to investigate these questions for the piano. The explanations in this book use a minimum of mathematics, and are intended for anyone who is interested in music and musical instruments. At the same time, there are many insights relating physics and the piano that will likely be interesting and perhaps surprising for many physicists.

The Cambridge Companion to the Violin

The Cambridge Companion to the Violin
Author: Robin Stowell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1992-12-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780521399234

Enth. S.1 - 29: The violin and bow - origins and development / John Dilworth

The Physics of Music and Color

The Physics of Music and Color
Author: Leon Gunther
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2019-10-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030192199

This undergraduate textbook aids readers in studying music and color, which involve nearly the entire gamut of the fundamental laws of classical as well as atomic physics. The objective bases for these two subjects are, respectively, sound and light. Their corresponding underlying physical principles overlap greatly: Both music and color are manifestations of wave phenomena. As a result, commonalities exist as to the production, transmission, and detection of sound and light. Whereas traditional introductory physics textbooks are styled so that the basic principles are introduced first and are then applied, this book is based on a motivational approach: It introduces a subject with a set of related phenomena, challenging readers by calling for a physical basis for what is observed. A novel topic in the first edition and this second edition is a non-mathematical study of electric and magnetic fields and how they provide the basis for the propagation of electromagnetic waves, of light in particular. The book provides details for the calculation of color coordinates and luminosity from the spectral intensity of a beam of light as well as the relationship between these coordinates and the color coordinates of a color monitor. The second edition contains corrections to the first edition, the addition of more than ten new topics, new color figures, as well as more than forty new sample problems and end-of-chapter problems. The most notable additional topics are: the identification of two distinct spectral intensities and how they are related, beats in the sound from a Tibetan bell, AM and FM radio, the spectrogram, the short-time Fourier transform and its relation to the perception of a changing pitch, a detailed analysis of the transmittance of polarized light by a Polaroid sheet, brightness and luminosity, and the mysterious behavior of the photon. The Physics of Music and Color is written at a level suitable for college students without any scientific background, requiring only simple algebra and a passing familiarity with trigonometry. The numerous problems at the end of each chapter help the reader to fully grasp the subject.