Reading/References

Text: Thomas D. Rossing, The Science of Sound, Second Edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1990. (QC225.15.R67)

Optional Text: Arthur Benade, Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics, Second Revised Edition, Dover Publications, 1990. (ML3805.B456)

Unfortunately, the Rossing book costs about $70. The Benade book costs less than $20. I would have chosen the Benade as the primary text except that it doesn't function as well in that capacity. However, it is an exceptional book with inumerable intuitive insights gained from years of careful study, observation, and experimentation. There are numerous other books available on musical acoustics that you might wish to browse. The book by Hall seems to be pretty well written.

Other Helpful Texts:

John Backus, The Acoustical Foundations of Music, Second Edition, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1977. (ML3805.B126)

Donald Hall, Musical Acoustics, Second edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, 1991. (ML3805.H175)

Richard E. Berg and David G. Stork, The Physics of Sound, Second Edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995. (QC225.15.B47)

Madan Mehta, Jim Johnson, and Jorge Rocafort, Architectural Acoustics: Principles and Design, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. (NA2800.M45)

Advanced Reading:

N. H. Fletcher and T. D. Rossing, The Physics of Musical Instruments, Springer-Verlag, second edition, 1993. Excellent advanced musical acoustics text.

P.M. Morse, Vibration and Sound, Published by the American Institute of Physics for the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), 1976 (1st ed., 1936, 2nd ed., 1948). This book can be purchased at CCRMA when we have copies available: ask Heidi (hmk@ccrma, 3-4971) about availability. The book can also be ordered from The Acoustical Society of America (book sales dept) by calling (412) 741-1979. The price is (as of March 1998) $25.00 for ASA members and $33.00 for non-members.

I. G. Main, Vibrations and Waves in Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1978.

L. Cremer, The Physics of the Violin, MIT Press, 1984.

P. M. Morse and K. U. Ingard, Theoretical Acoustics, Princeton University Press, 1968. Superb.

L. Kinsler, A.Frey, A. Coppens, and J. Sanders, Fundamentals of Acoustics, Wiley, 1982.

J. G. Roederer, Introduction to the Physics and Psychophysics of Music, NY: Springer-V., '75.