from the glacier

mostly about this post and the comments. I think most of us in the modern era have forgotten the liberal arts. We have especially forgotten that the second grouping, the quadrivium, is mathematical. Yep, fully 56% of the liberal arts are mathematical. Yes, and this includes music as well. [pop] (bubbles bursting). Also, as I have quoted numerous times, God disposed all according to number weight and measure. It is mathematical. Further, sound can be described by waves (analogously to water waves, as it is a compression and rarefaction, not a peak and a trough). So should we be terribly surprised to find that music is mathematical? But what is the upshot?

I have been thinking a lot about music and the enjoyment of it lately, and something has occurred to me. Think about a song you really love, be it pop music, phat rap - yo, indie whining, or concerto. Upon first hearing it, you were tentative, not certain where the music was going. It is analogous to first meeting another person. You aren't really sure what they're all about. But after listening and listening, it becomes more than a friend (to stretch the human analogy to the point of breaking). No it is much more like a lover (in the Romantic sense of the term) where you know every thought, every breath, every inch - of the music. I would further stretch the analogy to 'knowing' the piece - in the biblical sense. You know every note, and every note has its place and that place is determined by . . . bum bum bum . . . (pick one: how it sounds or the numbers). Because we can't separate how it sounds from the numbers. It is two ways of looking at the same thing. The numbers aren't something superadded to understand the music. They are in the music - from Boethius' story of Pythagoras discovering the 3/2 ratio of the fifth to M. M. Gustin's Tonality. The numbers are there. The vibrations make the sounds. If the vibrations are not in ratios, it sounds like total shit. Do you need to understand the numbers to enjoy? No. Does it enhance the music? Maybe, but only in the understanding, not in the passion for the piece as a lover. Will it make you a good composer? Hell no.

So I guess I will conclude this concerto for twenty-six letters and various punctuation. Music needs to sound good. Numbers are the underlying reason for this. But the most important thing, let me underline that MOST IMPORTANT THING - is to have passion for the music. Know it, love it. Hum it tunelessly to irritate friends, family and co-workers. And, on that note, I think I have a piano concerto to go listen to.