This translation of this classic text contains a balance of cultural and biological considerations. While arguing for the strong influence of exposure and of formal training on the way that music is perceived, Frances draws on the literature concerning the amusias to illustrate his points about the types of cognitive abstraction that are performed by the listener.
Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale focuses on perceptions of consonance and dissonance, and how these are dependent on timbre. This also relates to musical scale: certain timbres sound more consonant in some scales than others. Sensory consonance and the ability to measure it have important implications for the design of audio devices and for musical theory and analysis. Applications include methods of adapting sounds for arbitrary scales, ways to specify scales for nonharmonic sounds, and techniques of sound manipulation based on maximizing (or minimizing) consonance. Special consideration is given here to a new method of adaptive tuning that can automatically adjust the tuning of a piece based its timbral character so as to minimize dissonance. Audio examples illustrating the ideas presented are provided on an accompanying CD. This unique analysis of sound and scale will be of interest to physicists and engineers working in acoustics, as well as to musicians and psychologists.
The book presents the fundamentals of music science, followed by a discussion on the historical evolution of music. An introduction to the analysis of signals in time and frequency is presented, which includes sound and noise. Features and mathematical aspects of the sound are discussed, including vibration and timbre. The book presents a review of existing voice models and discusses the voice production, sound perception, music characteristics and acoustics, tempo, rhythm and harmony. Musical theory is presented, including staff, notes, alterations, keys and intervals, tones and associated frequencies and wavelengths. The creation of major and minor scales is emphasized, along with a study on consonance and dissonance, measure, metric, tempo markings, dynamics, modulation. The book also explains the chord formation, and discusses melody and composition. The book has four appendices, including an appendix on the basic differentiation and integration theorems, another with useful Fourier tables, and an appendix featuring the notes, their frequencies and wavelengths. The book also has a glossary of music terms.
Comprehensive introduction by noted musicologist covers physical and physiological bases of sound and hearing, elements of tone, pitch, musical ability, origins of music, psychology of music, much more.
The soul rejoices in perceiving harmonious sound; when the sound is not harmonious it is grieved. From these affects of the soul are derived the name of consonances for the harmonic proportions, and the name of dissonances for the unharmonic proportions. When to this is added the other harmonie proportion whieh consists of the longer or shorter duration of musical sound, then the soul stirs the body to jumping dance, the tongue to inspired speech, according to the same laws. The artisans accommodate to these harmonies the blows of their hammers, the soldiers their pace. As long as the harmonies endure, everything is alive; everything stiffens, when they are disturbed.! Thus the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, evokes the power of music. Where does this power come from? What properties of music enable it to stir up emotions which may go far beyond just feeling generally pleased, and which may express themselves, for instance, in weeping; in laughing; in trembling over the whole body; in a marked acceleration of breathing and heartbeat; in participating in the rhythm with the head, the hands, the arms, and the feet? From the beginning of musical theory the answer to this question has been sought in two different directions.
This book addresses the central problem of music cognition: how listeners' responses move beyond mere registration of auditory events to include the organization, interpretation, and remembrance of these events in terms of their function in a musical context of pitch and rhythm. Equally important, the work offers an analysis of the relationship between the psychological organization of music and its internal structure. Combining over a decade of original research on music cognition with an overview of the available literature, the work will be of interest to cognitive and physiological psychologists, psychobiologists, musicians, music researchers, and music educators. The author provides the necessary background in experimental methodology and music theory so that no specialized knowledge is required for following her major arguments.
