How We Hear Music: Relationship Between Music And The Hearing

Description:
A survey of intervals and scales, tone pitch, loudness and time in Western music raises many questions about the hearing mechanism and throws doubt on the conventional role of harmonics. James Beament's account of how musical sounds are coded by the ear and the brain's processing units, provides answers to most of these questions. It concludes that music started with simple instruments which voices imitated, and that the need to know sound direction determined the characteristics of hearing. This book will interest students, practising musicians and music psychologists, and assumes no scientific knowledge. The late Professor Sir JAMES BEAMENT was a distinguished scientist and musician, who taught and examined music students at Cambridge University.

Review:
Informed by a broad expertise comprehending all of the disciplines for which human hearing is pertinent. Beament('s) model for the hearing of music...is not only the most speculative section of the book but also the most brilliant. Recommended warmly... it should find a niche in virtually every college, university and professional music library. CHOICE

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Preliminaries. Part 2 Aural archaeology. Part 3 Hearing selects intervals. Part 4 The beguiling harmonic theory. Part 5 The imitating voice. Part 6 Hearing simultaneous pitches. Part 7 Patterns in harmony. Part 8 Loudness: the basic dynamic scale. Part 9 Music through the hearing machine. Part 10 A sense of direction. Part 11 Time and rhythm. Part 12 Conclusions.

Author Biography:
JAMES BEAMENT is a distinguished scientist who plays and composes music. He has taught and examined music students at Cambridge University. His book should also interest practising musicians and music psychologists.