Editing Musical acoustics (section)

{{Short description|Application of acoustics to music}}
'''Musical acoustics''' or '''music acoustics''' is a multidisciplinary field that combines knowledge from [[physics]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCW5Ng0UfYYC|title=Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics|last=Benade|first=Arthur H.|author-link=Arthur Benade |date=1990|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=9780486264844|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CRSRYQlRLkC|title=The Physics of Musical Instruments|last1=Fletcher|first1=Neville H.|last2=Rossing|first2=Thomas|date=2008-05-23|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780387983745|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiCZwwFG0x0C|title=The Musician's Guide to Acoustics|last1=Campbell|first1=Murray|last2=Greated|first2=Clive|date=1994-04-28|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780191591679|language=en}}</ref> [[psychophysics]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780387094700|title=The Physics and Psychophysics of Music: An Introduction|last=Roederer|first=Juan|date=2009|publisher=Springer-Verlag|isbn=9780387094700|edition=4|location=New York|language=en}}</ref> [[organology]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5h3FGwAACAAJ|title=Acústica musical|last=Henrique|first=Luís L.|date=2002|publisher=Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian|isbn=9789723109870|language=pt}}</ref> (classification of the instruments), [[physiology]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Biology of Musical Performance and Performance-Related Injury|last=Watson, Lanham|first=Alan H. D., ML|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2009|isbn=9780810863590|location=Cambridge}}</ref> [[music theory]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/on-the-sensations-of-tone-as-a-physiological-basis-for-the-theory-of-music/6B5630E5D439286A8946CEB9D62BE6EC|title=On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music by Hermann L. F. Helmholtz|last1=Helmholtz|first1=Hermann L. F.|last2=Ellis|first2=Alexander J.|date=1885|website=Cambridge Core|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511701801 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015000592603 |isbn=9781108001779 |language=en|access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref> [[ethnomusicology]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo3774458.html|title=On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments|last=Kartomi|first=Margareth|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1990|isbn=9780226425498|location=Chicago}}</ref> [[signal processing]] and instrument building,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Musical Instrument Design: Practical Information for Instrument Design|last=Hopkin|first=Bart|publisher=See Sharp Press|year=1996|isbn=978-1884365089}}</ref>  among other disciplines.  As a branch of [[acoustics]], it is concerned with researching and describing the physics of [[music]] – how [[sound]]s are employed to make music. Examples of areas of study are the function of [[musical instruments]], the [[human voice]] (the physics of [[Interpersonal communication|speech]] and [[singing]]), computer analysis of [[melody]], and in the clinical use of music in [[music therapy]].

The pioneer of music acoustics was [[Hermann von Helmholtz]], a German polymath  of the 19th century who was an influential [[physician]], [[physicist]], physiologist, musician, mathematician and philosopher. His book ''[[iarchive:onsensationsofto00helmrich|On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music]]''<ref name=":0" /> is a revolutionary compendium of several studies and approaches that provided a complete new perspective to [[music theory]], musical performance, [[music psychology]] and the physical behaviour of musical instruments.