MUSIC AND MATH

Look at the many areas of music that involve math, from string length ratios to scales and beats.

Books

Math and Music, Grades 6-12 by Trudi H. Garland; Charity V. Kahn; Katarina Stenstedt (Editor) Explores the interconnectedness of math and music, discussing rhythm, frequency and amplitude, tuning, composition, instruments, and other topics.
Call Number: 781 GAR
Publication Date: 1994
Music Theory 101 by Brian Boone; Marc Schonbrun An introduction to music theory, with visual aids, music trivia, and history. Music Theory 101 covers everything novice musicians and lifelong learners need to know, including: how to read sheet music, understanding the construction of chords and scales, the different rhythm and time signatures, and how keys are identified and organized.
Call Number: 781 BOO
Publication Date: 2017

Counterpoint

KEYWORDS:

line symmetry

rotational symmetry

dilation

counterpoint inversion

counterpoint retrograde

counterpoint augmentation

YouTube: Bach …. sheet music

The Canons and Fugues of J. S. Bach
Well-Tempered Clavier, St. Matthew Passion
Goldberg Variations, Mass in B Minor at
Sojurn (or the Digital Bach Project)

Harmonics and Intervals

Search Tip: Search Destiny for websites (key terms: harmonics and overtones)

Harmonic Series

Four sections follow the introduction to this illustrated article: Physics, Harmonics and Color; The Harmonics Series; Brass Instruments; and Harmonics on Strings.

Hearing Fractions: Instruments Vibrate the Harmonic Series

Harmonics are often described first by explaining the physics of the plucked string. The tone produced by the vibration of a violin string plucked in its center is called the fundamental tone of the string. The string vibrates as a whole when plucked at its center. Plucked elsewhere, the string can be made to vibrate in three or more separate parts. The tones produced by the vibration of the parts are called overtones or harmonics. The java applet at this site demonstrates both movement and sound for the first four notes of the harmonic series: whole, halves, thirds, and fourths.

The music of the primes Plus, an internet magazine, introduces its readers to the beauty and the practical applications of mathematics. In this article, Marcus du Sautoy demonstrates the similarities between math and music. Music has an advantage over math, suggests du Sautoy, because of the physical connection our bodies have with a musical composition; he calls it the tingle factor. Math has great symphonies, too, he suggests, like the Riemann Hypothesis. The key to Riemann is understanding what determines whether a vibrating object will produce a noise, a pleasing sound, or a musical tone; in other words, harmonics.
Guitar Mathematics - Passy's World of Mathematics

String Length Ratio

KEYWORDS:

Consonance

Harmonics

String length ratio

Pythagoras and music

Octave

Jean Fourier

Pythagoras and his Vibrating Strings: The relationship between music and mathamatics

MATH 7 - Math Fair 2024 - In Progress

MUSIC AND MATH

Books

Counterpoint

Harmonics and Intervals

String Length Ratio

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