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Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey: Book

$15.95 USD
$15.95 USD
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Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey Cover Image
Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey: Book

Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey: Book

By J. Murray Barbour

Item: 06-434060
$15.95
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Description
"An important and long-needed book written by the man best qualified."--The Musical Quarterly. The difficulties of tuning (attaining the perfect scale) and temperament (the necessary mathematical compromises for composition) have challenged musicians from the earliest civilizations onward. This guide surveys these longstanding problems, devoting a chapter to each principal theory and offering a running account of the complete history of tuning and temperament. Its value as a reference is enhanced by a glossary and index. Unabridged republication of the edition published by Michigan State College Press, East Lansing, Michigan, 1953.

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Additional Details
Series: Dover Edition
Publisher: Dover Publications
ISBN10: 0-486-43406-0
ISBN13: 978-0-486-43406-3
UPC: 9780486434063
SKU: 06-434060

More about this title

About the Author: J. Murray Barbour

J. Murray Barbour was a musicologist and tuning theorist whose scholarship defined the modern study of temperament history. His work at Michigan State College established him as the leading authority on the mathematical and acoustic foundations of Western music systems, bridging the gap between music history and the physics that shaped composition itself.

Barbour's research provided music educators and theorists with the first comprehensive historical framework for understanding why instruments sound the way they do. His careful documentation of tuning systems across centuries remains essential reading for anyone teaching music history, acoustics, or the relationship between theory and practice.

Why we love this

This book answers the question every thoughtful musician eventually asks: why can't we just tune everything perfectly? Barbour treats tuning and temperament not as dry mathematical abstractions but as the central problem that shaped every piece ever written. It's the kind of foundational reference that changes how students and directors understand both historical performance and the choices composers made within their acoustic constraints.

Who it's for

This book serves music history teachers, theory instructors, historically informed performance specialists, and any musician curious about the acoustic foundations of their instrument. It's equally valuable for conductors programming early music and for acoustics-minded students seeking to understand how tuning systems influenced compositional possibilities across centuries.

How to use it

Use this as a primary text in advanced theory courses exploring the historical development of pitch systems, or as a reference when preparing period-authentic performances. Directors working with ensembles on Baroque or Renaissance repertoire will find Barbour's chapters on historical temperaments directly applicable to performance decisions and discussions about intonation standards.

Skills your students will build

  • Understanding historical tuning systems and their acoustic properties
  • Recognizing how temperament choices shaped compositional possibilities
  • Reading tuning theory and mathematical acoustics concepts
  • Contextualizing early music performance within historical tuning practices

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