Chapter 8 Further Reading: How Instruments Work — Physics of Sound Generation

Comprehensive Acoustics of Instruments

Fletcher, Neville H., and Thomas D. Rossing. The Physics of Musical Instruments (2nd ed., Springer, 1998) The definitive technical reference on instrument acoustics. Covers all instrument families in rigorous mathematical detail. Chapters on the violin, brass instruments, woodwinds, and percussion are essential reading for anyone wanting to go beyond this textbook's introductory treatment. More technical than most readers will need initially, but an indispensable reference.

Benade, Arthur H. Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (2nd ed., Dover, 1990) A comprehensive and remarkably accessible treatment of instrument acoustics by one of the foremost researchers in the field. Benade was unusual in combining rigorous physics with practical musicianship; his explanations are designed for musicians as well as physicists. Particularly excellent on woodwind and brass acoustics.

Rossing, Thomas D. (ed.). The Science of String Instruments (Springer, 2010) A detailed collection covering the physics of plucked, bowed, and struck string instruments from violin to guitar to piano to harpsichord. Each chapter is written by specialists in that instrument's acoustics.

Strings

Cremer, Lothar. The Physics of the Violin (MIT Press, 1984) The most thorough physical analysis of the violin available. Covers string vibration, bow-string interaction, bridge mechanics, body resonances, and the radiation of sound. Technical but authoritative.

Jansson, Erik V. Acoustics for Violin and Guitar Makers (4th ed., Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2002) Freely available online. A practical guide to instrument acoustics oriented toward craftspeople but containing excellent introductory physics. Clear explanations of plate resonances, f-hole acoustics, and the role of the soundpost.

Woodhouse, Jim. "The Acoustics of the Violin: A Review." Reports on Progress in Physics 77:11 (2014): 115901. A comprehensive review article by one of the leading researchers in violin acoustics. Covers the current state of understanding on every aspect of violin physics, including a nuanced discussion of what is and is not understood about the "Stradivarius mystery."

The Stradivarius Controversy

Fritz, Claudia, Joseph Curtin, et al. "Player Preferences Among New and Old Violins." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109:3 (2012): 760–763. The landmark 2012 study on violin blind testing described in Case Study 8.1. Available open-access online.

Fritz, Claudia, et al. "Soloist Evaluations of Six Old Italian and Six New Violins." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111:20 (2014): 7224–7229. The 2014 follow-up study with more instruments, longer evaluation times, and a concert hall setting. Results consistent with the 2012 study.

Nagyvary, Joseph, et al. "Mineral Preservatives in the Wood of Stradivari and Guarneri." PLOS ONE 4:1 (2009): e4245. One of several studies investigating the chemical treatment of Stradivari instrument wood. Presents evidence for specific mineral impregnation; the acoustic significance is debated.

Woodwinds and Brass

Benade, Arthur H. French Horns and other Brass (Music Educators Journal articles, 1960s–1970s; collected in Horns, Strings, and Harmony, Dover, 1992) Benade's more accessible writing on brass acoustics. Particularly good on the relationship between bore geometry and harmonic content.

Young, Robert W. "Inharmonicity of Plain Wire Piano Strings." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 24:3 (1952): 267–273. A classic paper on piano string inharmonicity with quantitative analysis of how inharmonicity varies with string length, diameter, and tension.

Nederveen, Cornelis Johannes. Acoustical Aspects of Woodwind Instruments (2nd ed., Northern Illinois University Press, 1998) A thorough treatment of woodwind tube acoustics, tonehole effects, and register behavior. More technical than Benade but valuable for deep understanding.

Percussion

Rossing, Thomas D. The Science of Percussion Instruments (World Scientific, 2000) Covers the physics of membranophones and idiophones in depth, including the mathematical analysis of circular membrane modes, bar modes, and the design of tuned percussion instruments.

Blades, James. Percussion Instruments and Their History (Faber and Faber, 1970) A historical and descriptive account of percussion instruments from ancient times to the present, with substantial attention to the physics of drum construction and tuning.

Non-Western Instruments

Dournon, Geneviève. Guide to Field Collections of Traditional Musical Instruments (UNESCO, 1981) A practical guide to documenting traditional instruments from any culture, with extensive discussion of the diversity of instrument types and their acoustic bases.

Pegg, Carole. "Mongolian Music, Dance and Oral Narrative." In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: East Asia (Routledge, 2002) Contains excellent treatment of overtone singing techniques, including acoustic analysis.

Nettl, Bruno, et al. (eds.). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (10 vols., Routledge, 1998–2002) The standard reference work for world music scholarship. Each volume covers a geographic region in depth, including sections on instrument acoustics and construction.

The Didgeridoo Specifically

Tarnopolsky, Alex, Neville Fletcher, Lloyd Hollenberg, Benjamin Lange, John Smith, and Joe Wolfe. "The Didgeridoo Is Played by Producing a Vocal Tract Resonance Just Below Its Impedance Minimum." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 123:1 (2008): 485–492. A technical paper on the acoustic interaction between the didgeridoo and the vocal tract. Documents how skilled players produce specific vowel-like timbres by placing vocal tract resonances near specific harmonics of the instrument.

Moyle, Alice M. "Songs from the Northern Territory." Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (Canberra, 1964) Early ethnomusicological recordings and analysis of didgeridoo use in ceremony. A primary source for understanding the cultural context of the instrument.

Clunies Ross, Margaret, and Stephen Wild. "Formal Performance: The Relations of Music, Text and Dance in Arnhem Land Clan Songs." Ethnomusicology 28:2 (1984): 209–235. On the relationship between the didgeridoo, song, and dance in Arnhem Land ceremonial performance. Essential for understanding the cultural context that cannot be derived from physics alone.

Online Resources

Joe Wolfe's Musical Acoustics Research Library, UNSW Sydney https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/ An extraordinary free online resource covering the acoustics of virtually every instrument, with measured impedance spectra, animations of standing waves, and explanations of playing technique. Particularly comprehensive on woodwind and brass acoustics.

The Physics of Music (University of New South Wales) https://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/ Accessible explanations of instrument physics with audio examples and interactive demonstrations.

Acoustics Today — ASA (Acoustical Society of America) Freely available articles on current research in musical acoustics, including instrument design, room acoustics, and psychoacoustics. Accessible level for the curious non-specialist.

National Film Board of Canada — "Didgeridoo" documentaries Various documentary films examining didgeridoo playing and Aboriginal Australian musical culture, available through streaming services.