Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #228334 in Books
• Published on: 1991-02-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Synopsis
Landmark book by leading expert, hailed for its astonishingly clear, delightfully readable explication of everything acoustical important to music-making. "Comprehensive...rigorous...well-organized ...will surely be the text of choice." - American Scientist. "Recommended for music lovers and au

Customer Reviews

An excellent introductory book without too much mathematics
In my opinion, a wonderful work that introduces the principles of waves and vibrations, musical perception and instrument physics without too much mathematics. Specific chapters on violin, piano, clavicord and harpsichord, winds (brass and wood). Several references to guitar. The book is a little old, which shows in the references, but is an excellent text for self study. Most chapters have at the end a list of interesting experiments that one can perform. Overall a must first book if you are interested in the field.

An excellent introduction to musical acoustics!
I found this book very helpful. It presents the subject in a very clear step by step manner with many lucid examples. It contains no advanced math, but it still scientifically presents some complicated acoustics, using instead insights gained from years of research, teaching, and working with musicians and their instruments. He assumes little background and builds all his explanations up from very basic physical concepts. It is true, however, that his thoroughness with this approach occasionally demands some patience. Though the book was written in the mid '70s, most of the material is unhindered by the passage of time. Many of the figures are very simply drawn (low-tech), but they are nonetheless remarkably clear and understandable.

I have found this book a good complement to "The Physics of Musical Instruments" by Fletcher and Rossing. Benade's book is easier to read and understand (and much less expensive). Fletcher and Rossing, on the otherhand, have written an excellent college physics book, which is exceptionally detailed and covers a wide variety of basic phenomena and instruments. They rely much more on math to explain the subject, instead of using the practical, anecdotal approach of Benade. The two different approaches work well side by side. If I were to buy just one book, however, I'd buy Benade's.