This book, a classic in its field, deals with the physical systems and physiological processes that intervene in music. It analyzes what objective, physical properties of sound are associated with what subjective psychological sensations of music, and it describes how these sound patterns are actually generated in musical instruments, how they propagate through the environment, and how they are detected by the ear and interpreted in the brain. Using the precise language of science, but without complicated mathematics, the author weaves a close mesh of the physics, psychophysics and physiology relevant to music. A prior knowledge of physics, mathematics, physiology or psychology is not required to understand most of the book; it is, however, assumed that the reader is familiar with music - in particular, with musical notation, musical scales and intervals, and some of the basics of musical instruments. This new edition has been substantially revised and brought up to date throughout.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
From the reviews of the fourth edition:
"This book deals with the physical systems and biological processes that interact with music, analyzing ‘what objective, physical properties of sound patterns are associated with what subjective, psychological sensations of music.’ … Roederer is well known for promoting music as a multidisciplinary subject. … While there are plenty of good books on the physics of music … Roederer’s classic is the best. This book will be an asset to any scientific library." (Soubhik Chakraborty, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2009)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE best musical acoustics reference by far,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction (Paperback)
I only know the first edition of Juan Roederer's The PHYSICS AND PSYCHOPHYSICS OF MUSIC (almost hot off the presses when used as a textbook for my Spring 1980 Acoustics class for music majors), which I keep close at hand and refer to often (I'm strongly tempted to update though). This first edition at least is much superior to any other musical acoustics book I've encountered, and I've encountered a fair number of them. It isn't perfect: There is some cultural bias in its explanation of tonality, and its explanation of just tuning is ahistorical and to this extent faulty. And there are other worthy books: There is Helmholtz's ON THE SENSATIONS OF TONE, and there is the engaging introductory gloss, SCIENCE AND MUSIC by Sir James Jeans.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent introduction to the physics of music.,
By Guillermo Jorge (Argentina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction (Paperback)
This is an excellent introductory book about the physics and psychophysics of music. It may be useful for general interested people as well as specialists, since it was written with little mathematics but deep concepts and explanations. In the first chapters the author explains the basic of the physics of music, and then he focus on the biological aspect of hearing and perception of sounds and musical sensations. The book has also three appendices for more advanced people with harder math. Very good figures and an easy-to-read prose complete the landscape of this outstanding book by this argentinian well-known physicist working in the US now.
13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
exciting, comprehensive, broad fund of knowledge,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction (Paperback)
excellent review of the subject; can serve as an introductory text in a course, or for self-guided reading; an entry point into an exciting new area in science and the arts; combines and broaches what have traditionally been thought of as very diverse fields; strongly recommend to the amateur as well as to the specialist
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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complex tones, sound intensity level, music perception, central pitch processor, mistuned consonances, tone superpositions, primary excitation mechanism, first order beats, fundamental tracking, subjective pitch, standing vibrations, neighboring harmonics, pitch sensation, aural harmonics, loudness sensation, upper harmonics, pressure antinode, vibration pattern, basilar membrane, acoustical power, periodicity pitch, acoustical energy, component tones, neural pulses, blowing pressure Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sound Vibrations, Musical Sounds, Perception of Timbre, Perception of Pitch, Perception of Loudness, Generation of Complex Standing Vibrations, Propagation Speed, Cognitive Brain Processes, String Instruments, Other First Order Effects, Wind Instruments, Standing Longitudinal Waves, Building Musical Scales, Auditory Coding Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
complex tones, sound intensity level, music perception, central pitch processor, mistuned consonances, tone superpositions, primary excitation mechanism, first order beats, fundamental tracking, subjective pitch, standing vibrations, neighboring harmonics, pitch sensation, aural harmonics, loudness sensation, upper harmonics, pressure antinode, vibration pattern, basilar membrane, acoustical power, periodicity pitch, acoustical energy, component tones, neural pulses, blowing pressure Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sound Vibrations, Musical Sounds, Perception of Timbre, Perception of Pitch, Perception of Loudness, Generation of Complex Standing Vibrations, Propagation Speed, Cognitive Brain Processes, String Instruments, Other First Order Effects, Wind Instruments, Standing Longitudinal Waves, Building Musical Scales, Auditory Coding Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
6
books
cite this book:
See all 6 books citing this book
- Understanding Audio: Getting the Most Out of Your Project or Professional Recording Studio by Daniel M. Thompson in Back Matter
- Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter by Justin London in Back Matter
- The Bass Player's Handbook by Greg Mooter in Back Matter
- The Neurophysics of Human Behavior: Explorations at the Interface of the Brain, Mind, Behavior, and Information by Mark E. Furman in Back Matter
- Information and Its Role in Nature (The Frontiers Collection) by Juan G. Roederer in Back Matter
See all 6 books citing this book
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