CWRU Faculty & Staff Authors

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics is a landmark book in its field, hailed for its astonishingly clear, delightfully readable statement of everything of acoustical importance to music-making. Though directed primarily to the music student who is taking an acoustics course, it is essential reading for all musicians, music lovers, and audiophiles eager to expand their musical horizons. The book deals extensively with the fundamental modes of sound production and with the special sound-producing properties of the musical instruments in common use today — keyboard, string, brass, woodwind, and percussion — as well as the human voice. It further explores the critical roles played by the room and by the hearer's auditory apparatus. The basis of scales and harmony and the craft of instrument makers are also discussed in this masterly text, which includes numerous illustrations, bibliographical information, and a stimulating section of "Examples, Experiments, and Questions" at the end of each chapter. After the original publication of this book, Dr. Benade maintained a detailed set of corrections and revisions that have been incorporated into this second, revised edition. "Comprehensive . . . rigorous . . . well-organized . . . will surely be the text of choice." — American Scientist "A remarkable achievement . . . a book on musical acoustics by an acknowledged master of the subject which guides the reader through all the most subtle intricacies of every important family of Western musical instruments with virtually no mathematics . . . Arthur Benade, a professor at Case Western Reserve, has set forth a vast knowledge of musical acoustics so clearly that you can read his book as you would a novel." — The Audio Amateur "Every chapter contains material not previously covered in books written on musical acoustics." — John T. Scott, Physics Today "Recommended for music lovers and audiophiles who want to know more about the physics of musical sounds." — Stereo Review

"A fascinating excursion into an area too often ignored by the musical practitioner." — Music Library Association Notes. If you've ever wondered how a musical instrument produces the sound it does, this book explains the physics of musical instruments in an engaging and understandable way. Dr. Benade was a nuclear physicist, flutist, and science educator with a special ability to explain complex ideas in a simple, straightforward manner. In this book he brings that ability to bear in elucidating the ways in which music is formed by many different kinds of musical instruments. Dr. Benade first explores simple and complex vibrating systems and the ear's reception of sound. He then describes the fundamentals of the piano, violin, trumpet, bugle, trombone, oboe, clarinet, flute, saxophone, and many other instruments, demonstrating the sound-making capacities of each. For mechanically inclined readers who are interested in constructing basic instrumental models, Dr. Benade demonstrates how to build a working trumpet, flute, and clarinet. Enhanced with clear diagrams and easy scientific models, Horns, Strings, and Harmony is a book that will increase the musical enjoyment and understanding of all musicians, music lovers, and amateur scientists. "The book is commended not only to the 'young person' who seeks to know some physics of musical instruments but also to those who would like to review in simple outline the basic physics of what happens within a musical instrument." — Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.