ACOUSTICS. - As a science it deals with all the qualities of sound in itself or in relation to certain places where the sounds themselves are heard. As regards the liturgical use of a., a distinction must be made between the study of sound as a component element of chant and the sound of instruments, such as the organ and bells. Before Gregorian chant, the Hellenes and the Greco-Romans considered the study of sound as forming part of harmonics, that is, of the good disposition of intervals small or large, diatonic or chromatic, symphonic or diaphonic, successive or simultaneous. In liturgical use, instruments were excluded both for reasons of harmony and because of the profane use to which they were destined. This exclusion, however, does not concern all instruments, because some are used to give the pitch, or to prelude the chant to be performed.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Tacchinardi, A. musicale, Milan 1912; P. C. Buck, Acustics for Musicians, Oxford 1918; B. Giraldi, Elementi di a. musicale, Rome 1929.

Gregorio M. Sufol.

@incollection{ec1_acustica, author = {Suñol, Gregorio Maria}, title = {Acustica}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {260}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/acustica} }

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Acoustics

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