Music and Math

Music and mathematics are incredible forms of art that have been apart of every day life for centuries and continue to do so. It seems that most people would not consider mathematics to fall under the category of art because generally the stereotypical thoughts of math consist of numbers and equations. However, art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. Math is a skill that humans have developed overtime and it is a prominent factor that is integrated in music. Though it is not literally seen or heard, aspects of mathematics are present in not only the physical sound but also in the theory of music.

The human ear has a tendency to favor consonant music. Consonance is a term used to define musical intervals, melodies, or harmonies that sound pleasing, and it is both a physical and psychological attraction. According to Ancient Greek history, these “consonant sounds” relate to simple number ratios which was discovered in an experiment conducted by Pythagoras (Fauvel, p 15). In his experiment, it is said that he listened to a blacksmith strike four hammers weighing twelve, nine, eight, and six pounds. He listened to the twelve pound hammer while cycling through the other weights simultaneously. From this observation he was able to derive the intervals:

12:6 = 2:1 12:8 = 3:2 12:9 = 4:3

Sound is produced by vibrations in the air which, in this experiment, came from the hammer. The vibrations are a set of frequencies measured in units of Hertz (Hz). The faster the vibration frequency, the higher the sound will be in pitch. Pythagoras’s 2:1 ratio simply means that both tones are the same however the second tone’s frequency rate is doubled. For example, the blacksmith strike...

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... how the melody is organized. In bars one and three there are four quarter notes. Since a quarter gets one beat, bars one and three match the time signature (1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4). In measures two and four there are two quarter notes and one half. Knowing that a half note equals two beats, bars two and four match the time signature as well ( 1 + 1 + 2 = 4). This displays how many concepts of math, including its most basic forms, are accommodated in music.

After reviewing the history of the development of music, it seems that without mathematics music would not exist. The relationship between the two could even foster embellishing opportunities for education. Students may be more intrigued to learn about math if it is compared to music or vice versa. With this strong combination, it is important to consider that mathematics is as much of an art as music.