The Hills Are Alive With The Physics Of Sound And Music

 It is often a struggle to justify to 1st year students how the physics we see in class is related to the phenomena we see day in, day out. 

Undergraduates are often faced with overtly simplified or uninspired problems and examples (block on a ramp - I'm looking at you) to work through. This more often than not, at least in my opinion, takes the fun out of it, with students becoming desensitised to that the fact the calculations they produce have any bearing on the physical world at all. 

The Physics of Sound and Music thus is a welcomed antidote in this regard. The first volume covers the theory behind sound and the musical instruments that produces it. Not only is the text fluid, entertain and of course educational, it is extraordinarily cultural in its approach. Not only will you learn physics, you will also come to appreciate the relationship the subject has to the arts. Reflective of this, the text is filled with outstanding hand drawn coloured figures through out.

The second volume of this series is laboratory manual filled with exciting and for the most part simple experiments students can try. It is clear that the author has gone to a great deal of effort to ensure that these practical exercises can be carried out easily by the students and reflect their everyday experiences. 

This two volume set makes the connection clear between the mathematics and physical laws we study in class to the reality we face every day everyday. A distinction of this text, is the strength of clarity yielded by the author to explain topics (such as beats and the doppler effect) which other more technical books tend to make opaque. 

The Physics of Sound and Music, Volume 1
A complete course text (Textbook)
by Samya Bano Zain
ISBN: 9780750352109

The Physics of Sound and Music, Volume 2
A complete course text (Lab manual)
by Samya Bano Zain
ISBN: 9780750363488

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