Physics of the Piano - Tapa dura

In just over 150 pages, i Physics of the Piano r manages to deliver remarkable depth for a text aimed at a broad audience anyone who is interested in understanding how and why the piano was invented, how it evolved, and how different parts of the instrument contribute to the sound it produces. [] I highly recommend Physics of the Piano. It is an accessible introduction to many standard and some esoteric principles involved in creating the piano sound. I intend to use it as a reference for my general-education class offered in the honors program at Indiana State University. (Uwe Hansen, Physics Today)

Nicolas J. Giordano has written a brief and excellent account of the physics of this instrument. (Times Literary Supplement)

The author's passion for the piano is evident on every page; it is abundantly clear that writing this book was a labor of love and the reader will not be disappointed. (Julia A. Lauer-Chéenne and Dominique J. Chéenne, Noise Control Engineering Journal)

Why does a piano sound like a piano? A similar question can be asked of virtually all musical instruments. A particular note-such as middle C-can be produced by a piano, a violin, a clarinet, and many other instruments, yet it is easy for even a musically untrained listener to distinguish between these different instruments. A central quest in the study of musical instruments is to understand why the sound of the "same" note depends greatly on the instrument, and to elucidate which aspects of an instrument are most critical in producing the musical tones characteristic of the instrument. The primary goal of this book is to investigate these questions for the piano. The explanations in this book use a minimum of mathematics, and are intended for anyone who is interested in music and musical instruments. At the same time, there are many insights relating physics and the piano that will likely be interesting and perhaps surprising for many physicists.