Thanks to John Denker for that UNSW physics of music site. It looks
like it has lots of useful and interesting stuff. I taught the physics
of music at SFU in the seventies and eighties with great pleasure, and
I have recommended this site to the professor who is teaching it now.
A book that the teacher of such a course should have on the shelf is
"Music, Physics and Engineering" by Harry F. Olson*. Some of the
material is out of date, and that doesn't surprise me since the photo
of the cover looks exactly like my copy, less the $4.00 pricetag. The
fact that this book is still in print more than forty years after its
second edition attests well to its quality and utility.
Let me also add a note here about the use of the term "harmonics". I
discontinued my own practice of using that term as a noun, and using
instead the more general term "overtone". This practice avoids the
confusion that may arise from using the two nouns somewhat
interchangeably. Thus I try to say "harmonic overtones" instead of the
common abbreviation "harmonics" that is heard in a musical context.