The Science of String Instruments

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Thomas D. Rossing

   Pages 1-10

3. Plucked Strings

   • Thomas D. Rossing

   Pages 11-18

4. Guitars and Lutes

   • Thomas D. Rossing, Graham Caldersmith

   Pages 19-45

5. Portuguese Guitar

   • Octavio Inacio

   Pages 47-57

6. Banjo

   • James Rae

   Pages 59-75

7. Mandolin Family Instruments

   • David J. Cohen, Thomas D. Rossing

   Pages 77-98

8. Psalteries and Zithers

   • Andres Peekna, Thomas D. Rossing

   Pages 99-122

9. Harpsichord and Clavichord

   • Neville H. Fletcher, Carey Beebe

   Pages 123-143

10. Harp

    • Chris Waltham

    Pages 145-166

11. Burmese Arched Harp

    • Robert M. Williamson

    Pages 167-171

12. Plucked String Instruments in Asia

    • Shigeru Yoshikawa

    Pages 173-195

13. Bowed Strings

    • Thomas D. Rossing, Roger J. Hanson

    Pages 197-208

14. Violin

    • Joseph Curtin, Thomas D. Rossing

    Pages 209-244

15. Cello

    • Eric Bynum, Thomas D. Rossing

    Pages 245-257

16. Double Bass

    • Anders Askenfelt

    Pages 259-277

17. Bows, Strings, and Bowing

    • Knut Guettler

    Pages 279-299

18. Viols and Other Historic Bowed String Instruments

    • Murray Campbell, Patsy Campbell

    Pages 301-315

19. The Hutchins–Schelleng Violin Octet After 50 Years

    • George Bissinger

    Pages 317-345

20. Hammered Strings

    • Thomas D. Rossing

    Pages 347-352

Thomas D. Rossing String instruments are found in almost all musical cultures. Bowed string instruments form the backbone of symphony orchestras, and they are used widely as solo inst- ments and in chamber music as well. Guitars are used universally in pop music as well as in classical music. The piano is probably the most versatile of all musical inst- ments, used widely not only in ensemble with other musical instruments but also as a solo instrument and to accompany solo instruments and the human voice. In this book, various authors will discuss the science of plucked, bowed, and hammered string instruments as well as their electronic counterparts. We have tried to tell the fascinating story of scienti?c research with a minimum of mathematics to maximize the usefulness of the book to performers and instrument builders as well as to students and researchers in musical acoustics. Sometimes, however, it is dif?cult to “translate” ideas from the exact mathematical language of science into words alone, so we include some basic mathematical equations to express these ideas. It is impossible to discuss all families of string instruments. Some instruments have been researched much more than others. Hopefully, the discussions in this book will help to encourage further scienti?c research by both musicians and scientists alike. 1.1 A Brief History of the Science of String Instruments Quite a number of good histories of acoustics have been written (Lindsay 1966, 1973; Hunt 1992; Beyer 1999), and these histories include musical acoustics.

• Banjo
• Zither
• acoustics
• double bass
• guitar
• harp
• violin

• Center for Computer Research in Music &, Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, Stanford, USA

  Thomas D. Rossing

Tom Rossing has taught musical acoustics for nearly 50 years, and has been active in research in this area for at least 30 years. In 1992 he was awarded the Silver Medal in Musical Acoustics by the Acoustical Society of America, and his biography is included in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He is also the editor of the 2006 Springer Handbook of Acoustics. In 2009 he was awarded the ASA Gold Medal by the Acoustical Society of America for contributions to musical acoustics, leadership in science education, and service to the Society.

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