Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Sounds of Music: Science of Musical Scales

1. Human Perception of Sound

  • Series Article
  • Published:
Resonance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Both, human appreciation of music and musical genres transcend time and space. The universality of musical genres and associated musical scales is intimately linked to the physics of sound, and the special characteristics of human acoustic sensitivity. In this series of articles, we examine the science underlying the development of the heptatonic scale, one of the most prevalent scales of the modern musical genres, both western and Indian.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. R E Berg and D G Stork, The Physics of Sound, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1995.

  2. D Benson, Music: A Mathematical Offering, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

  3. W C Elmore and N A Heald, Physics of Waves, McGraw-Hill, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  4. K Z Gill and D Purves, A Biological Rationale for Musical Scales, PLOS One, 4(12), e5144, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  5. E G Schellenberg and S E Trehub, Frequency Ratios and the Perception of Tone Patterns, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1(2), pp.191–201, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics Tata Institute of Fundamenta Research, Pune University Campus, Ganeshkhind, Pune, 411 007, India

    Sushan Konar

Authors
  1. Sushan Konar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sushan Konar.

Additional information

Sushan Konar works on stellar compact objects. She also writes popular science articles and maintains a weekly astrophysics-related blog called Monday Musings.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Konar, S. The Sounds of Music: Science of Musical Scales. Reson 24, 891–900 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0851-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0851-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation