| [Ben01] |
Benade, Arthur: Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics, Dover edition |
| A book covering most aspects of physical sound production and
instrumental and room acoustics. Mathematics is kept to an
absolute minimum, here. |
| [Bre01] |
Bregman, Albert S.: Auditory Scene Analysis |
| This one is a real killer: fresh, comprehensive, easy to read
and straight to the point. Must see literature for anyone
interested in auditory segregation, fusion and so on. |
| [But01] |
Butler, David: The Musician’s Guide to Perception and Cognition |
| An easy, intuitive exposee of some of the more interesting aspects
of music cognition. Not very comprehensive or rigorous. Comes
with an enlightening CD full of demonstrations. |
| [Dav01] |
Davies, John Booth: The Psychology of Music |
| A solid if somewhat old volume on general psychoacoustics and
its applications to music theory. Centers on classical ideas
like consonance/dissonance and Gestalte. |
| [Deu01] |
Deutch, Diana (ed.): The Psychology of Music, second edition |
| A fresh, covering representation of the cognitive aspects of
sound and music perception. Highly recommended. |
| [Dow01] |
Dowling, W. Jay and Harwood, Dane L.: Music Cognition |
| A psychoacoustics and music psychology textbook. The chapter on
timbre is quite solid. |
| [Gab01] |
Gabel, Robert A. and Roberts, Richard A.: Signals and Linear Systems, third edition |
| An easy to read, systems oriented approach to linearity and linear
systems. Analog friendly. |
| [Gol01] |
Goldstein, E. Bruce: Sensation & Perception, fourth edition |
| Some quite enjoyable reading on psychophysics of sensation. In
the fourth edition hearing is much more thoroughly discussed.
This is an entry level book which puts more weight on the cognitive
side of perception than does the one by Kandel et al.. This is
fun to read and helps shed light on the higher functions involved
in perceptual tasks. |
| [Hod01] |
Hodges, Donald A. (ed.): Handbook of Musical Psychology, second edition |
| A good covering of music psychology. A bit fragmentary. |
| [Jau01] |
Jauhiainen, Tapani: Kuulo ja viestintä |
| A well illustrated, comprehensive guide to the human auditory
system and relevant neuropsychological and cognitive phenomena.
Lays special weight on the analysis of hearing disorders. Finnish. |
| [Kan01] |
Kandel, Eric R.; Schwartz, James H. and Jessell, Thomas M.: Principles of Neural Science, third edition |
| An excellent book on general neural science. The chapter on hearing
is the best I’ve ever read, but it’s not for the faint
hearted—it takes some effort to get a grip on
the lingo. After that, it is a hefty bunch of distilled
knowledge. |
| [Lun01] |
Lundin, Robert W.: An Objective Psychology of Music, third edition |
| An older treatment of musical psychology. Utilises a behavioral
starting point. |
| [Opp01] |
Oppenheim, Alan V.; Schafer, Pierre: Digital Signal Processing, second edition |
| After grasping the basics of DSP, this is the place to continue
the quest. The level of mathematical sophistication is, partly,
quite high. However, the more basic concepts and formulæ are
explained and illustrated very clearly. Highly recommended. |
| [Pen01] |
Penfold, R.A.: Advanced MIDI User’s Guide, second edition |
| A fairly readable exposition of MIDI related techniques and
technologies. Serves best as a reference, not a tutorial. |
| [Poh01] |
Pohlmann, Ken C.: Principles of Digital Audio, second edition |
| An excellent covering of the technology aspects of digital audio.
Presents a strong emphasis on technical issues, such as coding,
error correction, transmission formats and manufacturing
technology. Serves well as a reference to most popular digital
audio systems. Recommended. |
| [Roa01] |
Roads, Curtis: The Computer Music Tutorial |
| A quite all‐encompassing reference on all aspects of computer
music, digital audio and related areas of study. The emphasis,
here, is on practical application instead of strict mathematical
rigor. Easy, entertaining and comprehesive—a true bible. |
| [Roa02] |
Roads, Curtis (ed.): The Music Machine |
| A selection of articles from the Computer Music Journal.
Discusses some interesting points, but isn’t as solid as the
Computer Music Tutorial. More oriented towards technology and
specific solutions. |
| [Ros01] |
Rossing, Thomas D.: The Science of Sound, second edition |
| An entry level text on musical acoustics. Gives a good picture
of physical acoustics as well. Spectral methods and math are a
bit on the low side. |
| [Wal01] |
Wallin, Nils L.: Biomusicology |
| A thorough covering of the perceptual mechanisms of hearing and
related cognitive tasks in a framework of neural science,
evolution and cognitive neuropsychology. The weight is on
explaining why instead of what, thus making this one excellent
reading for anyone wishing to understand the whys and hows of
human hearing and music. |