Musical acoustics in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Of humankind’s material creations that developed without benefit of logical understanding, musical instruments may well be the most complex and sophisticated. Although some of the greatest theoretical minds of the nineteenth century (such as Helmholtz and Rayleigh) applied notable efforts to the study of musical instruments, that period lacked the experimental tools to match the virtuosity of its theoreticians; so that it was not until the twentieth century, and more particularly, the period that overlaps the life of the Acoustical Society of America, that the field of Musical Acoustics was truly able to blossom forth. Specifically, ASA’s first quarter century saw the development of sophisticated vacuum-tube technology (powerfully stimulated by World War II); the second produced solid-state electronics; and the third brought personal computers to every scientist’s desk and made digital methods part of everyday life. But, unlike the situation in other fields, modern electronic methods not only made the physics of musical instruments more accessible, they themselves invaded their subject matter in the form of electronic music, giving rise to a totally new kind of symbiotic relationship. This talk will draw upon the annals of JASA to summarize that fascinating period of history.