Cremona violins occupy a unique and storied place in violin history. This book contains a brief account of that history — the rise and fall of the Cremonese art of violin making that dominated over two centuries. It is primarily devoted, however, to the physics behind violin acoustics, specifically the research of William F “Jack” Fry over the past several decades. The gradual evolution of his ideas leading to a holistic approach is chronicled, in sharp contrast to the conventional “reductionist” analysis. With rare insights, he has come closer than anyone before in reproducing the tonal qualities of the great Italian masters. This historic achievement makes the book extremely valuable for violin makers and violin researchers, enabling young and aspiring violinists to own excellent sounding instruments with the acoustical marvels of the old at affordable prices.The accompanying video features Fry's demonstration of how and why minute changes in thickness graduations make predictable changes in tonal qualities of an instrument.

This title contains a brief account of the history of the Cremona violins - the rise and fall of the art that dominated over two centuries - and is primarily devoted to the physics behind the violin acoustics, specifically the research of William F. 'Jack' Fry over the past four decades and more.

This book contains a brief account of the history of Cremona violins - the rise and fall of the art that dominated over two centuries - and is primarily devoted to The physics behind the violin acoustics, specifically the research of William F "Jack" Fry over the past four decades and more. it chronicles his early research and The evolution of his ideas leading to a holistic approach to its acoustics, In sharp contrast to The conventional "reductionist" approach. With rare insights, he has come closer than anyone before in reproducing the sound of the great Italian masters. This historic achievement makes the book extremely valuable for violin makers, violin researchers, and young and aspiring violinists who would like to own excellent-sounding instruments with all the desirable characteristics of old instruments at affordable prices.

Gateways to Understanding Music explores music in all the categories that constitute contemporary musical experience: European classical music, popular music, jazz, and world music. Covering the oldest forms of human music making to the newest, the chronological narrative considers music from a global rather than a Eurocentric perspective. Each of sixty modular "gateways" covers a particular genre, style, or period of music. Every gateway opens with a guided listening example that unlocks a world of music through careful study of its structural elements. Based on their listening experience, students are asked to consider how the piece came to be composed or performed, how the piece or performance responded to the social and cultural issues at the time and place of its creation, and what that music means today. Students learn to listen to, explain, understand, and ultimately value all the music they may encounter in their world. FEATURES Global scope—Presents all music as worthy of study, including classical, world, popular, and jazz. Historical narrative—Begins with small-scale forager societies up to the present, with a shifting focus from global to European to American influences. Modular framework—60 gateways in 14 chapters allow flexibility to organize chronologically or by the seven recurring themes: aesthetics, emotion, social life, links to culture, politics, economics, and technology. Listening-guided learning—Leads to understanding the emotion, meaning, significance, and history of music. Introduction of musical concepts—Defined as needed and compiled into a Glossary for reference. Consistent structure—With the same step-by-step format, students learn through repeated practice how to listen and how to think about music. In addition to streamed audio examples, the companion website hosts essential instructors’ resources.

This volume considers audiovisual material as a primary source for historiography. By analyzing how the same sounds are used in different media contexts at different times, the contributors challenge the linear perspective of music history based on canonical authority.

Chandra is an intimate portrait of a highly private and brilliant man, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel laureate in physics who has been a major contributor to the theories of white dwarfs and black holes. "Wali has given us a magnificent portrait of Chandra, full of life and color, with a deep understanding of the three cultures—Indian, British, and American—in which Chandra was successively immersed. . . . I wish I had the job of reviewing this book for the New York Times rather than for Physics Today. If the book is only read by physicists, then Wali's devoted labors were in vain."—Freeman Dyson, Physics Today "An enthralling human document."—William McCrea, Times Higher Education Supplement "A dramatic, exuberant biography of one of the century's great scientists."—Publishers Weekly

"A rapturous, witty, and passionate memoir ... Violin Dreams is not only the story of a man becoming an artist, it’s a history of twentieth-century music.” -- John Guare, Tony Award-winning playwright Arnold Steinhardt, for more than forty years an international soloist and the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, brings warmth, wit, and fascinating insider details to the story of his lifelong obsession with the violin, that most seductive and stunningly beautiful instrument. His story is rich with vivid scenes: the terror inflicted by his early violin teachers, the sensual pleasure involved in the pursuit of the perfect violin, the charged atmosphere of high-level competitions. Steinhardt describes Bach’s Chaconne as the holy grail for the solo violin, and he illuminates, from the perspective of an ardent owner of a great Storioni violin, the history and mysteries of the renowned Italian violinmakers. Violin Dreams includes a remarkable CD recording of Steinhardt performing Bach’s Partita in D Minor as a young violinist forty years ago and playing the same piece especially for this book. A conversation between the author and Alan Alda on the differences between the two performances is included in the liner notes.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar — known simply as Chandra throughout the scientific world — has become a legendary figure for his prolific contributions to physics, astrophysics, and applied mathematics. Before his death in 1995, Chandra had forbidden a memorial of the conventional sort, celebrating his life. This book, which contains some thirty articles by his former students, his associates, and his colleagues, is in a sense a memorial volume. It says little about Chandra's great scientific achievements, but shows his human side and the various facets of his brilliant personality, his incredible memory, his wit, and the breadth of his knowledge of art, music, literature, and the humanities in general. The contributors to this highly interesting book are among the few who broke the seemingly forbidden barrier surrounding the very private Chandra and came to know him well in one context or another. They include Lalitha Chandrasekhar, Roger Penrose, Richard H Dalitz, J W Cronin, Robert G Sachs, Abhay Ashtekar, and Robert Wald.

Satyendra Nath Bose became a legendary figure of science in the 20th century in India with his revolutionary discovery on the nature of radiation. Despite the association with Einstein, however, little is known about him outside of India. This book highlights the remarkable intellect and the extraordinary personality of Bose set against the backdrop of a rich Bengali cultural tradition and British-Indian politics. Unlike other books covering the significance of Bose''s discovery, this book describes his diverse scientific contributions to India''s scientific community by bringing together selected articles and addresses by Bose as well as contributions from some well-known scientists on the many-faceted life of Bose, thus making it a truly unique volume.