On the Sensations of Tone (Dover Books on Music)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.53 (841 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0486607534 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 608 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-06-22 |
| Language | : | German |
DESCRIPTION:
Kevin Kissell said Great Book - Bad Reprint. This is an absolutely wonderful book. Not only does it lay the foundations for psycho-acoustics, but it documents the brilliance and creativity shown by Helmholtz in devising experiments to understand the nature of sound and its perception that relied purely on Victorian pre-electronic technology. Why only one star? Because Dover has botched the current reprinting.I have a Dover printing from the 1980s, which I love, and bought a couple of new copies to . J Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt said Good, but very old; read Jeans instead (or something modern). This book is of historical interest only, I think; it's very well written, but a lot of its content is mind bogglingly outdated, ancient. If you need a readable quick intro into sound, read Jeans's book (the first part of it is updated Helmholtz). Then, if you still need to (as in "know specifically what I'm after and it can be found only in Helmholtz"), you can pick this book; but otherwise, resorting to modern literature will be a much better investmen. Misprints. Reinhart Frosch I found two misprints:Page 412, last equation on that page, x_2 = -b/(2a). : On the right-hand side, there are five terms. Terms number 2 to 5 have to be multiplied by b. In term number 3, replace u^2 by v^2.Page 417, second of the two equations, r_p = 16 B' B" . : The second of the two brackets in the denominator must be squared.These two misprints occur also in the German original, possibly since 1863.
After a survey of the different principles of musical styles in history (tonal systems of Pythagoras, the Church, the Chinese, Arabs, Persians, and others), he makes a detailed study of our own tonal system (keys, discords, progression of parts).Important points in this 576-page work are profusely illustrated with graphs, diagrams, tables, and musical examples. Difficult scientific concepts are explained simply and easily for the general reader.The first two parts of this book deal with the physics and physiology of music. 33 appendices discuss pitch, acoustics, and music, and include a very valuable table and study of the history of pitch in Europe from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries.. Part II cover combinational tones and beats, and develops Helmholtz's famous theory explaining why harmonious chords are in the ratios of small whole numbers (a problem unsolved since Pythagoras).Part III contains the author's theory on the aesthetic relationship of musical tones. It bridges the gap between the natural sciences and music theory and, nearly a century after its first publication, it is still a standard text for the study of physiologic
. Margenau is Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus of Physics and Natural Philosophy at Yale University
. About the Author Margenau is Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus of Physics and Natural Philosophy at Yale University