During the nineteenth century, a remarkable scientific instrument known as a harmonograph revealed the beautiful patterns found in music. Harmonograph is an introduction to the evolution of simple harmonic theory, from the discoveries of Pythagoras to diatonic tuning and equal temperament. Beautiful drawings show the octave as triangle, the fifth as pentagram; diagrams show the principles of harmonics, overtones, and the monochord. Anthony Ashton examines the phenomenon of resonance in Chladni patterns, describes how to build a harmonograph of your own, and provides tables of world tuning systems. This inspiring book will appeal to musicians, mathematicians, designers, and artists alike.
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About the Author
Anthony Ashton is an economist and journalist.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By Sean Boyle
Format:Hardcover
I found this book to be extremely helpful. I'm a music teacher and have been interested in the physics of music for years, but I've never seen the physics of frequency explained so clearly and concisely. I'm really impressed with how well the Pythagorean Comma was handled.
This book, in a format where chapters are almost always one page long, gets into some pretty difficult concepts and explains them better than I thought possible.
This is the book I loan high school kids who are thinking about doing a science project with music. They love it.
This book, in a format where chapters are almost always one page long, gets into some pretty difficult concepts and explains them better than I thought possible.
This is the book I loan high school kids who are thinking about doing a science project with music. They love it.
63 of 69 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is an excellent little book on harmonics and sound, encompassing science and music. It is a much needed counter weight to the effervessence of other recent titles on temperament and harmonics. It is such a beautifully visual book, with graphic depictions of sound waves, you will simply want to look at the illustrations for hours. It hints at the mystical without falling off the edge into either New Age or Cultural Supremacy.
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By Mark Samuels
Format:Hardcover
This is a great book - not only is it absolutely beautiful, but it actually does the job. After years of struggling with Pythagorean Commas and Syntonic Commas and all the other tricky little bits in music I was given a copy of Anthony Ashton's little book and the pieces finally fell into place. A simply delightful book with truly awesome images and clear concise mathematics. I have given copies to every musician friend I have and they all love it too. Well done Wooden Books - clarity, brevity and beauty combined. More please.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice book
Very cool stuff. Kind of like a spirograph for music. If you're into both math and music you'll find this interesting. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Andrew Ryder
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkable old book reprint
This book describes a remarkable device from an age before electronic displays, which made it possible to see the form of various sounds. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Chester Berry
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Really Music but Interesting All the Same
Let me first say that I like this book and the visuals are incredible. But a harmonograph is essentially a spirograph with a PhD and the resulting pictures will not teach you... Read more
Published on December 30, 2008 by Neil D. Hemann
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sound Made Visible
Humans have known or intuited that sound not only has form but it organizes matter.
Throughout history individuals have found ways to demonstrate (and make visible) this... Read more
Throughout history individuals have found ways to demonstrate (and make visible) this... Read more
Published on February 8, 2008 by James B. Hopkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful little book
I didn't know what quite to expect with this book; I wasn't familiar with the term "harmonograph" before getting this text. Read more
Published on January 15, 2008 by Philip A. Earnhardt
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
Short and easy to read with beautiful illustrations, this is a nice addition to your collection if you are interested in the connections between sounds and visuals.
Published on December 11, 2007 by Paris Treantafeles
1.0 out of 5 stars
huh ???
After about 5 pages into this thing I found myslelf becoming more and more baffled, as the author continually threw out various terminology with no explanation of it. Read more
Published on November 12, 2007 by David Kohn
4.0 out of 5 stars
Harmon-amazing
For anyone wanting to learn some interesting math related information without taking classes that make you sweat bullets then the Wooden Books are a great source to turn to. Read more
Published on July 9, 2007 by estes_the_ninja
4.0 out of 5 stars
A rare short account of visual expressions of music.
I was really surprised by looking for the first time the visual appearance of music. It looks to me as the our days fractals, shown in a different way.
Published on January 5, 2007 by Raul Jimenez Gomez
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good to know
One is reminded of the geometry and math of sound; coupled with its artistic presentation.
Published on July 12, 2006 by Ann Covalt
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