Comments on: Mathematics and Music

By: Not Improbable - Asymptotia

Not Improbable - Asymptotia — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:15:39 +0000

[...] On Wednesday night, accompanied by Tameem, a student of mine, I wandered across campus to attend the “Mathematics in Music” event. I blogged about it earlier. I don’t really want to talk about the event itself in this post. It was a nice enough recital of three pieces. I don’t know why, but the promised “mathematics” was disappointingly virtually non-existent. I’m not exaggerating, I’m afraid. There’s simply nothing to report. [...]

By: Amara

Amara — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:11:07 +0000

An interesting twist on the question of whether ‘hearing’ a written score is on the decline, arises when one considers the Arabic maqam.

Unlike the Major and Minor modes, where each octave is divided exactly in twelve notes, and where the distance between each note is a half step, the Arabic maqam (plural: maqamat) is built on top of a scale that is generally generally made up of a 24 note octave. Each maqam may include microtonal variations such that tones, half tones and quarter tones in its underlying scale are not precisely that. E.g. the E in maqam Bayati is tuned slightly lower than the E in maqam Rast. These variations must be learned by _listening_ not by reading, which is why the oral tradition is the correct way to learn Arabic music. The tuning of the maqmat are probably historic, based on string instruments, but especially the oud.

When you listen to the maqam, you might notice that the modes are more complex and richer due to the large variety of specific Oriental tone scales. There are dozens of Arabic maqamat, including many Persian and Turkish hybrids, many local maqamat are used only in some regions of the Arab world, and unknown in others. The maqam are grouped by melodic development, patterns, and relationships between the notes. These rules describe which notes should be emphasized, how often, and in what order.

The following are some maqamat, that I like, that can give a idea of how these sound. These samples are in RealPlayer format.

From the Maqam Rast: Here is a Violin (Maqam Rast on C) and an Oud (Maqam Rast on C).
From the Maqam Kurd, here is an Oud (Maqam Kurd on G), and a Violin (Maqam Kurd on D).
From the Maqam Rast Yakah, here is a sample piece: Muwashah Mubarqa’ul Jamali.

I never get tired of listening to this kind of music.

By: Mary Cole

Mary Cole — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:23:26 +0000

Max- the skill of score reading and being able to ‘hear’ the music is certainly not lost but I would say (as a music educator) that it is on the decline, due in part to certain sequencing and scorewriting software packages. I’m not knocking these technologies as they have opened many doors musically, but it has lead to a certain shift in the skills base of many music students.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:41:45 +0000

Hi,

I think that some -several- still have this skill. It is not lost.

Cheers,

-cvj

By: max

max — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:51:51 +0000

“to use mathematics without visual aides is like to write music without hearing it played.”

funnily enough, this is a skill that our forefathers had in abundance: the ability to read written scores and ‘hear’ the music i ntheir imaginations without the need for it to be played. this is apparently a skill that we’ve lost

-j
———————-
currently in the juke box:

WhiteRoom: papillons
Radiohead: climbing up the walls
Beatles: a day in the life

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:31:42 +0000

To paraphrase Tristan Needham “Visual Complex Anaysis’ -
to use mathematics without visual aides is like to write music without hearing it played.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:08:46 +0000

Well, it has not happened yet. So I can’t link to such a thing. As I have done for these events before, I try to give a link to such material if it becomes available. So check back.

Thanks,

-cvj

By: Navneeth

Navneeth — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 17:56:37 +0000

A webcast or audio stream would’ve been nice for those who can’t be there in person.