Measured Tones, Third Edition

Measured Tones, Third Edition

“Music,” wrote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “is the universal language of mankind.” And it is a form of communication with intimate connections to physics. In Measured Tones, Third Edition, Ian Johnston illuminates the relationship between these two realms with originality and wit. Unlike most other works on this topic, which explore physical concepts and musical applications separately, Johnston’s book develops them side-by-side. For example, he begins the book by describing the division of a stretched string, showing how stopping the string precisely at its center produces a tone one octave higher than the unstopped tone. (Pythagoras was one luminary who found such relationships fascinating.) In succeeding sections, Johnston highlights such areas as frequency and pitch, wave theory, and the theory of resonance. Also discussed are the innovations wrought via modern technology, including computer composition. These chapters are interspersed with seven “Interludes” that focus on specific families of musical instruments. In turn, we study the workings and physical properties of brasses, the piano, strings, woodwinds, percussion and synthesizers. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded. It features a greater examination of psychoacoustics (the study of subjective human perception of sounds) and its role in the design of MP3s; provides expanded information on the gamelan and other Asian percussion instruments and introduces detailed discussions of binary notation, digitization and the electronic manipulation of music. A Web site keyed to the book contains sample problems to go with each chapter, and sound files of the various musical examples that appear throughout the text. Measured Tones, Third Edition does an excellent job of accentuating the harmonies that resonate between music and physics.

Hardcover: 454 pages

Publisher: CRC Press, LLC ( June 01, 2009 )

Item #: 53-8844

ISBN: 9781420093476

Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 0.0 inches

Product Weight: 28.0 ounces