Introduction to the Psychology of Music

For professional musicians, musicologists, and serious students, knowledge of the psychology of music is extremely valuable but sometimes hard to come by. In this practical and authoritative study — which pulls together information from musicology, physics, physiology, psychology, and aesthetics — the distinguished Hungarian psychologist Geza Révész (1878–1955) offers a comprehensive view of the subject, including an overview of his own extensive, often revolutionary research in both music psychology and acoustics.
The book is arranged in three parts. Part I addresses the physical and physiological bases of sound, hearing, and tone. Part II deals with the psychology of sound, including the basic elements of musical tone, the theory of intervals, consonance and dissonance, the sense of pitch, and the relation between tone and color perception. Part III treats fundamental problems of the psychology of music, including musical talent, the development and inheritance of musical ability, the musical accomplishments of deaf people, and more. In addition, the author includes absorbing chapters on the origins of music and the relationship between aesthetics and the psychology of music. Interested readers can amplify and deepen their knowledge by a study of the works cited in the text and listed in the bibliography.