Math and Music

There argon well-nigh obvious similarities between medicine and math. A musician might not think about them consciously, but knows innately. Scales and intervals ar essentially buildings of numeric relationships. Grasping the importance of math to music manner going beyond the conception that math is more than just outlets.Musicians at the highest level know that math is, in fact, fundamental to music. Musicians and mathematicians dont often think of themselves in the same terms, but they argon really practiti mavinrs of the same art. Music can be studied, created and expressed through the principles of natural philosophy and geometry.OriginsThe language of music is heavily laden with numerical jargon. Every issue prevailer learns to assign numbers to scale notes and intervals. A musician asked to play a minor seventh interval can visualize this in numerical form. They think of the scale, then determine its relationship to what they were asked to play. For most musicians, this benevolent of math is an unconscious process. It becomes second nature.Math should not be opinion of as a static set of lifeless numbers. In reality, math is a dynamic and creative process of discovering relationships and evaluating their meanings. Music shares the same elements of the enigma solving process.The superannuated Greek mathematician Pythagoras was fascinated with music and its expression of numeric relationships. The beauty of music, for him, was the same as that a mathematician experiences in the process of uncovering (Loy, 2006). He saw the differences in notes in terms of ratios. For example, if C is the washing soda D would be 9/8 of C. The ratio is describing the difference in the number of vibrations. Each note has its own ratio, relative to tonic. The ratio is compute for notes in higher octaves, and divided for notes in lower octaves. Generally speaking, the relative relative frequency of a note within a scale can be calculated by multiplying the frequency of the tonic note times the frequency ratio for the selected interval (Reid, 2007).The concept of the octave was describe by ancient mathematicians. They discovered that some notes, although different, could be almost imperceptible to the human ear. Correspondingly, they constitute that there is a mathematical relationship between the same notes in different octaves. The relationships Pythagoras and others illustrated between math and music are fundamental to the breeding of both fields. In an age when music can be created with computers, the mathematical elements of music have become even more important.FoundationsMath and music both use symbols and employ conceptual frameworks. As in math, some elements of music are undefined or vague. Yet, the influence of math is ostensible in fashions musicians may not even consciously realize. Harvey Reid cites one such exampleThe frets of a guitar are actually placed jibe to the 12th rootof 2, and 12 frets go middle(prenomina l) up the neck, to the octave, which ishalfway between the ends of the strings. (2007)A note is the most basic element of music. What is a note? In technical terms, a note is a particular frequency of vibrations. A good example of this can be seen on an electronic tuning meter. The meter does not hear notes, per se. It counts the number of vibrations the instrumentalist is creating and matches it to the appropriate frequency for the note being tuned. The actions the player takes to come into deference with the tuner are essentially part of a mathematical worry-solving process. This illustrates the physics of music.The time signature itself is a mathematical formula related to number theory. The formula is n/2m, where n and m are positive solely numbers (Benson, 2006). More complex time signatures lead to more alter mathematical relationships. This complexity can be heard, and felt, by the listener.Scales are expressions of mathematical ratios. Broadly classified, scales may be practice-based, just intoned or tough (Reid, 2007). All are based on mathematical theories. The intervals present in the scales are expressions of mathematical ratios.The process of write music is mathematical at its heart. It consists of constructing many mathematical relationships that, in some way, still relate to each(prenominal) other. We know what intervals to avoid or, in other words, what frequencies clash in an ungracious way.Some music takes on geometric properties. A piece in which a theme is repeated and overlapped continually can be described geometrically. The theme is often stretched, overlapped, changed slightly and moved to different keys. All of these are mathematical actions that could be visualized graphically.Technology, the future and ConclusionIn the computer age, musicians have a vast array of tools to create new and kindle music. Computers themselves are mathematical machines. Each command is a mathematical problem for the computer to solve. In machines that have vast mathematical capabilities, musicians can research notational relationships in ways they never thought possible before. There are limitations to the human ear, but technology can use mathematic principles to explore those limitations.The daylong a person studies music, the more they become aware of its mathematical roots. Similarly, the eternal a person studies mathematics, the more aware they become music is an expression of mathematical concepts. As technology advances, the potential exists for the each field to maturation the knowledge of the other.Most musicians innately sense the connection with math. The connections go off the beaten track(predicate) beyond the obvious, however. It is a linkage that can be traced all the way back to common origins.SourcesBenson, David L. (2006). Music a numerical Offering. New York CambridgeUniversity Press.Loy, Gareth. (2006). Musimathics The Mathematical Foundations of Music Vol. 1.Boston The MIT Press.Reid, Harvey. (2007 ). Of Mathematics and Music. Accessed 3/22/2007 fromhttp//www.woodpecker.com/writing/essays/math+music.html