The Physics and Psychophysics of Music (PDF)

Preface.- The Science of Music and the Music of Science: A Multidisciplinary Overview.- Sound Vibrations, Pure Tones, and the Perception of Pitch.- Sound Waves , Acoustic Energy, and the Perception of Loudness.- Generation of Musical Sounds, Complex Tones, and the Perception of Timbre.- Superposition and Succession of Complex Tones, and the Integral Perception of Music.- Appendix 1: Some Quantitative Aspects of the Bowing Mechanism.- Appendix II: Some Quantitative Aspects of Central Pitch Processor Models.- Appendix III: Some Renarks on Teaching of Physics and Psychophysics of Music.- References.- Index

The author is a space scientist of international reputation with a close and active relation with music (he studied organ with the late maestros Héctor Zeoli in Buenos Aires and Hans Jendis in Göttingen), who organized and directed the international workshops on the Neuropsychological Foundations of Music at the Carinthian Music Festivals in Ossiach, Austria. These workshops, held regularly between 1973 and 1985, have been credited as being the originators of the interdisciplinary approach to the study of music perception. In 2007 he was invited to deliver the opening lecture on Music and the Evolution of Human Brain Function at the international congress Mozart and Science in Baden/Vienna, Austria.

From the reviews of the fourth edition:

"This book deals with the physical systems and biological processes that interact with music, analyzing ‘what objective, physical properties of sound patterns are associated with what subjective, psychological sensations of music.’ … Roederer is well known for promoting music as a multidisciplinary subject. … While there are plenty of good books on the physics of music … Roederer’s classic is the best. This book will be an asset to any scientific library." (Soubhik Chakraborty, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2009)

“This book … not only suitable for lay-readers, but can also act as a springboard for more technically minded readers wishing to pursue a thorough foray into the field. … open questions which makes the reader want to come back for more. Credit can only be given to the author for creating such an engaging read. … this fourth edition of the book incorporates a number of recent results supporting hypotheses posited in earlier versions … .” (Matthew R. Foreman, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 52 (3), May-June, 2011)

“The different aspects of the close relationship between science and music are discussed in this book. … will be of interest to the non-science student, or simply to the music addict teenager … . The book will definitively be pleasant … reading for a scientist with a strong interest or love in music.” (Gary J. Long and Fernande Grandjean, Belgian Physical Society Magazine, Issue 3, 2010)