Exploring Musical Spaces by Julian Hook

Exploring Musical Spaces by Julian Hook

Exploring Musical Spaces is a comprehensive synthesis of mathematical techniques in music theory, written with the aim of making these techniques accessible to music scholars without extensive prior training in mathematics. The book adopts a visual orientation, introducing from the outset a number of simple geometric models-the first examples of the musical spaces of the book's title-depicting relationships among musical entities of various kinds such as notes, chords, scales, or rhythmic values. These spaces take many forms and become a unifying thread in initiating readers into several areas of active recent scholarship, including transformation theory, neo-Riemannian theory, geometric music theory, diatonic theory, and scale theory. Concepts and techniques from mathematical set theory, graph theory, group theory, geometry, and topology are introduced as needed to address musical questions. Musical examples ranging from Bach to the late twentieth century keep the underlying musical motivations close at hand. The book includes hundreds of figures to aid in visualizing the structure of the spaces, as well as exercises offering readers hands-on practice with a diverse assortment of concepts and techniques.

The 'mathy' quality of much recent music theory has long been a barrier to its comprehensionNo more. Julian Hook is a master explainer and, thanks to this book, music theorists and interested musicians now have an effective on-ramp not only to understanding but also to deep enjoyment of the rich regularities that can be heard to underpin musical experience. * Joseph Straus, CUNY Graduate Center *
Exploring Musical Spaces draws together the most important results in algebraic and geometric music theory of the last fifty years. Julian Hook's treatise, featuring the author's signature clarity and depth of insight, will open this dazzling field to a new generation of scholars. * Ian Quinn, Yale University *
For anyone looking for one book to read to help them better engage with or produce scholarship in mathematical music theory, I cannot recommend Exploring Musical Spaces highly enough. * Jordan Lenchitz, Journal of Mathematics and Music *

Julian Hook holds PhDs in both mathematics and music theory, as well as graduate degrees in architecture and piano performance. His work involving mathematical approaches to the study of music has appeared primarily in music theory journals but also at conferences of the American Mathematical Society and in the pages of Science. Since 2003 he has taught at Indiana University, where he is a former chair of the music theory department. He is a past president of Music Theory Midwest, and was the founding reviews editor of the Journal of Mathematics and Music.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780190246013
ISBN 10	0190246014
Title	Exploring Musical Spaces
Author	Julian Hook
Series	Oxford Studies In Music Theory
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2022-12-21
Number of pages	682
Prizes	Winner of Winner, 2023 Wallace Berry Award, Society for Music Theory.
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable