As the author of the first two editions of this book, Don Hodges is thrilled that Gary McPherson has joined him in creating this third edition. Many readers will already be familiar with Gary’s prolific scholarship and numerous contributions to music psychology and music education. For those unfamiliar with his stellar career, please check out his bio in the online resources.

In addition to contributing to every chapter, adding significant sections of his own, Gary McPherson worked with his son Glen McPherson, as well as Lawrence Yizhou Wang, Daniel Yeom and Nicholas Matherne to develop a companion website. This is an amazing resource with over 300 videos that will continue to grow as additional content become available.

David Sebald wrote the first half of Chapter 5: Acoustical Foundations of Music for the first edition; this chapter has been revised, updated, and greatly expanded since then but the core of his original contribution is still intact. David and Don also worked together on a set of multimedia tutorials. David created the tutorials for Chapter 5, Don wrote the text for the remaining tutorials, and David turned them into wonderful programs that were included on a CD that accompanied the first edition. By the time of the second edition, the program he used, Flash, was no longer supported, so he turned what were originally interactive programs into movies that are included in the online resources on this book’s website. We are sorry that the interactivity has been lost but the content is still available. We are grateful to David for creating these marvelous programs.

Lawrence Yizhou Wang has been instrumental in developing and maintaining our book’s website. With his skills in website design, he has made sure the site is user-friendly and visually appealing. Lawrence’s work has helped implement useful features and keep the site up-to-date.

Evie Evans and the Routledge staff: Constance Ditzel, who was the acquisitions editor for the first two editions has retired and her assistant Peter Sheehy is no longer with Routledge. Evie Evans has come aboard to shepherd this book through the publication process. We are grateful to her and her production team at Routledge for their work in bringing this book to fruition.

Our wives.Finally, we wish to express our deep gratitude to our wives, Diana Allan and Roslyn McPherson, for their patience in putting up with us and their unending love and support.