Artikelomschrijving

This introductory text deals with the physical systems and biological processes that intervene in what we broadly call music. We shall analyze what obj- tive, physical properties of sound patterns are associated with what subjective, psychological sensations of music. We shall describe how these sound patterns are actually produced in musical instruments, how they propagate through the environment, and how they are detected by the ear and interpreted in the brain. We shall do all this by using the physicists language and his method of thought and analysis-without, however, using complicated mathematics. Although no previous knowledge of physics, physiology, and neurobiology is required, it is assumedthatthereaderpossesseshigh-schooleducationandisfamiliarwithbasic aspects of music, in particular with musical notation, scales and intervals, musical instruments and typical musical sensations. Books are readily available on the fundamentals of physics of music (e. g. , Benade, 1990; Pierce, 1983; Fletcher and Rossing, 1998; Johnston, 2003) and psychoacoustics, music psychology and perception (e. g. , Plomp, 1976; Deutsch, 1982a; Zatorre and Peretz, 2001; Hartmann, 2005).