This unique reference book offers a holistic description of the multifaceted field of systematic musicology, which is the study of music, its production and perception, and its cultural, historical and philosophical background. The seven sections reflect the main topics in this interdisciplinary subject. The first two parts discuss musical acoustics and signal processing, comprehensively describing the mathematical and physical fundamentals of musical sound generation and propagation. The complex interplay of physiology and psychology involved in sound and music perception is covered in the following sections, with a particular focus on psychoacoustics and the recently evolved research on embodied music cognition. In addition, a huge variety of technical applications for professional training, music composition and consumer electronics are presented. A section on music ethnology completes this comprehensive handbook. Music theory and philosophy of music are imbedded throughout. Carefully edited and written by internationally respected experts, it is an invaluable reference resource for professionals and graduate students alike.

Rolf Bader is professor for Systematic Musicology at the Institute of Systematic Musicology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He studied Systematic Musicology, Physics, Ethnology and Historic Musicology at the University of Hamburg. There he obtained his PhD and habilitation on topics of Musical Acoustics, Music Psychology and Musical Signal Processing. He was a visiting scholar at the Center for Computer Music and Research (CCRMA) at Stanford University in 2005/2006. His major fields of research are Musical Acoustics and Musical Signal Processing, Musical Hardware and Software Development, Music Psychology and Neurocognition, Music Ethnology and Philosophy of Music. He is co-editor of the Springer series Current Research in Systematic Musicology. He published several books as an author, such as Nonlinearities and Synchronization in Musical Acoustics and Music Psychology or Computational Mechanics of the Classical Guitar. Additionally he edited Sound - Perception - Performance and Concepts, Experiments, and Fieldwork: Studies in Systematic Musicology and many contributing book chapters or peer-reviewed papers. He conducted fieldwork as an ethnomusicologist in Bali, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China and India since 1999. He was also working as a professional musician, composer and artist, running recording studios, working as a music journalist, leading exhibitions and running a cinema.