Physics and music

273 Pages·1966·27.16 MB·English

by  Gleb Anfilov, Translated from the Russian by Boris Kuznetsov

GLEB ANFILOV
PHYSICS and MUSIC
MIR PUBLISHERS MOSCOW
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Contents
Chapter One.
THE ORCHESTRA IN THE MAKING
Chapter Two.
HOW SOUND IS PRODUCED 55
Chapter Three.
RIVALS OF STRADIVARIUS 76
Chapter Four.
VOICE ANALYSIS 98
Chapter Five.
TONES CREATED BY THE EAR t11
Chapter Six.
THE HISTORY OF TUNING 124
Chapter Seven.
MUSIC FROM ELECTRICITY 138
Chapter Eight.
THE WONDERS OF SOUND RECORDING 167
Chapter Nine.
DR. SHOLPO'S DREAM 187
Chapter Ten.
THE COMPOSER AS A PAINTEl\ 205
Chapter Eleven.
MUSIC FROM THE COMPUTER 225
Chapter Twelve.
PHYSICS AND MUSIC 240
Index. 249
CHAPTE R ONE
*
The Orchestra in the Making
Today's -music lover is fortunate; he can have
music whenever he wants it. He just turns on
his radio, or goes to the opera-house or concert-
hall, or learns to play himself. Any child with
an ear for music or simply with ambitious
parents may enter a music school. Yet about a
hundred years ago the symphony orchestra was
to be heard on festive occasions only. Three
hundred years ago people had not heard of the
grand .piano. Four hundred years ago nobody
knew what we today call the violin.
But there was music all the same-five
hundred, a thousand, or 'ten thousand years
ago. OUf planet has always been both a musical
workshop and a concert room. In any out-of-
the-way place 'man, has always sung, played or
made things that whistle, hum or rattle. This
has always been as VItal to him as air: music
has helped him to work, has added to his joy
and taken the edge off his sorrow. Music has
drawn people together, and made them feel and
act as one.
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In an African village of grass liuts lost in the
jungle a successful safari is usually crowned by
a procession. Songs sound like triumphant battle
cries. Cane flutes and pipes sing buoyantly and
shrill sounds come from whistles made out of
hollow coco-nuts with holes for fingers. The
bamboo strings on bows twang and psalteries
hollowed from whole chunks of wood hum
away. Drums,' the oldest of all the musical in-
struments, give a sharp and insistent beat. The
village chief solemnly nods his head, which is
topped with what looks like a baby's rattle,-
a distinction for chiefs only.
In Borneo, during a wedding ceremony in a
fishing village, a song floats softly over the sea
and gongs ring out leisurely and rhythmically
in time to the lapping of the waves. Then some-
one moves his hand, and everything changes.
Tambourines, with seashells and dried fish
heads, give out a spirited buzz. A graceful girl
breaks into a provocative dance. The chains
and bracelets of bells on her arms and legs
jingle loudly.
In old Moscow at Shrovetide the whole of the
city would indulge in merrymaking. Spring was
welcomed boisterously with gouslis (psalteries),
goudoks (fiddles) and doudkas (reed-flutes).
In China villagers used to march out into the
fields for the first planting of rice to the sounds
of 'bells, cymbals, the ancient p'i p'a (the lute)
and the hu ch'in (the fiddle) .
Music is everywhere. No one can do without
it. Ancient religions beliefs maintained that
music was not only a pleasure but a cause of
many events. It could bring down droughts to
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