Research Catalog

Title

Exploring music : the science and technology of tones and tunes / Charles Taylor.

Author

Taylor, Charles, 1922-2002.

Publication

Bristol ; Philadelphia : Institute of Physics Publishing, ©1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

ix, 255 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

This is an engaging introduction to the underlying science behind music and musical instruments. Based on the highly successful series of Christmas Lectures held at the Royal Institution, this book contains an expanded version of what Professor Charles Taylor said and demonstrated to live audiences in excess of 2000 as well as over 10 million television viewers. Presented in a non-mathematical way, this lavishly illustrated book captures the enthusiasm and pleasure that the author derives from music and musical instruments. Readers of this book will enjoy the sense of fun and understanding that Professor Taylor imparts to young and old alike when he explores, in his unique way, the magical quality and science of music.

Subject

• Sound
• Music > Acoustics and physics
• Musik
• Physik
• Acoustique
• Son
• Acoustique musicale

Note

• Includes index.

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliography: p. 249-250.

Contents

• 1. What is Music? 1.1. Introduction. 1.2. The nature of sound. 1.3. Sound waves in solids and liquids. 1.4. What makes a sound musical? 1.5. Pitch and frequency. 1.6. Detecting ultrasonic waves. 1.7. Pure tones. 1.8. Music from wooden blocks. 1.9. The first family of musical instruments. 1.10. The ear and hearing. 1.11. Measurements on hearing. 1.12. More questions about the nature of music. 1.13. Music and information. 1.14. What can be varied?
• 1.15. Harmony and discord. 1.16. Beats and difference tones. 1.17. Psycho-acoustic complications. 1.18. More about the part played by the brain. 1.19. Conclusions -- 2. The Essence of an Instrument. 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. Starting a note. 2.3. Natural frequencies. 2.4. Keeping a note going. 2.5. Making the sound loud enough: instruments of the first family. 2.6. Making the sound loud enough: instruments of the second family.
• 2.7. Other consequences of using sound boxes. 2.8. Vibrations of air in a tube. 2.9. Edge tones. 2.10. Harmonics: instruments of the third family. 2.11. Reeds. 2.12. Analysing musical sounds. 2.13. Why do reeds produce so many harmonics? 2.14. How we perceive mixtures of harmonics. 2.15. Harmonics of strings. 2.16. Keeping string vibrations going. 2.17. A contemporary mechanical instrument. 2.18. How notes change with time.
• 2.19. The all-important beginning of a note. 2.20. More about the origin of transients. 2.21. Conclusion -- 3. Science, Strings and Symphonies. 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. Patterns of vibration of plates. 3.3. Patterns of vibration of air in hollow bodies. 3.4. The bodies of stringed instruments. 3.5. Bowed instruments. 3.6. Making a violin. 3.7. Can science help? 3.8. Testing in the concert hall. 3.9. The wolf tone. 3.10. The Catgut Acoustical Society.
• 3.11. Hand-plucked strings. 3.12. Keyboard-operated plucked strings. 3.13. Keyboard-operated struck strings. 3.14. The pianoforte. 3.15. Piano touch. 3.16. Conclusion -- 4. Technology, Trumpets and Tunes. 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. What happens at the end of a tube? 4.3. Vibrations in tubes open at both ends. 4.4. Vibrations in tubes closed at one end. 4.5. Privileged frequencies. 4.6. Vibrations in conical tubes. 4.7. Harmonic recipes in the woodwinds.
• 4.8. Edge-tone instruments. 4.9. Wind-cap instruments. 4.10. Mouth-reed instruments. 4.11. The functions of side holes. 4.12. How the sound gets out. 4.13. Keeping the vibrations going. 4.14. The functions of keys. 4.15. Another view of vibrations in tubes. 4.16. Transition instruments. 4.17. Turning a tube into a trumpet. 4.18. Valves and slides. 4.19. Harmonic recipes in the brass family. 4.20. Organ pipes. 4.21. The mechanism of an organ. 4.22. The voice.
• 4.23. Conclusion -- 5. Scales, Synthesisers and Samplers. 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. The purpose of scales. 5.3. Equal tempered scales. 5.4. Consequences of temperament. 5.5. Electronic synthesis. 5.6. Analogue synthesis. 5.7. Sampling. 5.8. Digital techniques. 5.9. Computer synthesis. 5.10. Digital synthesizers. 5.11. The concept of MIDI. 5.12. Why synthesise anyway? 5.13. Mechanical instruments and their successors. 5.14. Conclusion.
• 6. Reflections, Reverberation, and Recitals. 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Everybody must be somewhere. 6.3. Loudness versus intelligibility. 6.4. The work of W C Sabine. 6.5. What time of reverberation is desirable? 6.6. Placing the absorbent. 6.7. Placing the reflectors. 6.8. Some unfortunate consequences of reflection. 6.9. Some subjective problems. 6.10. Methods of acoustic design. 6.11. Adjustment of the acoustics. 6.12. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.
• 6.13. Noise in buildings. 6.14. Conclusion. App. A Holographic Interferometry -- A.1. Introduction -- App. B Pitch and Frequency -- B.1. Introduction -- B.2. Systems of pitch notation -- B.3. Ratios for the Just diatonic scale -- B.4. The use of cents in frequency measurement.

ISBN

• 0750302135
• 9780750302135
• 9780750320139
• 0750320133
• 0750320135 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

93196540

OCLC

• ocm26893738
• 26893738
• SCSB-14701440

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library