music and maths

[lea]

hello everyone

i am really fascinated by music and its connection with maths...........such as time signatures and fractions and counting beats, as you have to do alot when you play the piano.............and also if you listen to piano  music then u can do better in maths...........but mainly the time signatures-fractions part etc

does any one have info on this or websites so i could look at this fascinating subject better.........if only i was good at maths when i was at school!!!!

thankyou, and many happy hour of practicing the piano  

[ludwig]

hello lea,

    I recently was asked to do a survey on the Baroque music's dotting and articulation. It was very interesting I must say, that musicians and scientists are trying to do a study which focus on dotting (in fractions and forumlas) and articulation that could influence one's mood by listening to Baroque music.... I couldn't find anything on the web, but if you do, share it with us, its really fascinating.

Ludwig

[rachfan]

Here's another insight: It's widely believed that mathematicians are often terrific musicians (Einstein is a good example), and that musicians are more often than not very good at mathematics.  It's not always true, however.  Insofar as the brain is concerned, math is a logical function of the left hemisphere, while music is an artistic and emotive function of the right hemisphere.  So it can often be the case too that a person is great in one talent, but not so great in the other.

[amee]

Try this website:

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/297073.stm

It talks about how music can improve one's maths abilities.

[lea]

hey guyz.,.......thanx sooo much!!!

i was also interested in things like how time signatures and stuff are related to fractions, etc but i dunno where to start any suggestions?

[lea]

heres sum info.....

Music lessons can significantly improve the maths skills of primary school children, according to a study.
Researchers found that pupils at a Los Angeles school who learned to play the piano and read music improved their numeracy.

"The learning of music emphasizes thinking in space and time," says the study, which is published in the latest edition of Neurological Research.

"When children learn rhythm, they are learning ratios, fractions, and proportions."

The four-month project was led by professor Gordon Shaw of the University of California, Irvine.

It involved 136 second-year pupils at the 95th Street Elementary School, one of Los Angeles' poorest performing schools.

Comparisons

Their test results were compared to a 1997 pilot study in which 102 second year pupils at poorly performing schools in Orange County received traditional maths teaching assisted by the use of computer programs.

The Los Angeles pupils' results were 27% higher than their Orange County counterparts, and they were able to understand and analyse ratios and fractions, concepts usually not introduced until the sixth year of schooling.

"That 27% increase was just in four months," said Professor Shaw. "Continued music training would continue to boost that. Kids who could play more sophisticated music would increase their enhancement in math skills."

But some academics remain sceptical about such a direct link between music and learning, arguing that the music lessons could have improved results by simply raising the children's self-esteem

[koeni]

hi lea

I m a math teacher and i play the piano and i m happy to do both .Here is a site where you can find a chapter about the piano playing and maths.Enjoy it!!!!!!!!

http:////members.aol.com/chang8825/entirebook.htm
go to the homepage and you can download the full book wich is very interesting

koeni

[amee]

Lea,

That's from the website I gave you!  Hehe!

[lea]

yup.... -amee i no!!!!!

thanku koeni for the website i really appreciate it!!!!!

lea

[natasha]

hey lea
how is ur project going? im interested in things like that too!! r u going 2 do it numerical, as in talk about fractions/time signatures and so on?
natasha

[koeni]

hi lea

i will take a walk true my math docs,but t'are at school and since wr having eastern holidays it can take a few more days,but i think i got something for you.
when i have the info i ll get it to you by email

see you
koeni

[koeni]

hi again lea

i did some homework
check this out
seems to be what yu r lookin 4

have fun
koeni
https://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/papers/uses-math/music/

[amee]

I've been wondering after seeing all this discussion about music and maths -

Is maths really that important in music, or vice versa?  I mean you need maths for counting beats and time signatures and everything, but not really for the actual music or technique.

And about if you listen to piano music then you can do better in maths, so far I've only heard this works for very young children.  Does anyone know if it actually works for teenagers or adults?

[amee]

I was surfing the Internet and found this random fact that seemed to tie in with this discussion -

"Children who listened to Mozart when they were infants are smarter and do better in school than infacts who didn't".

[frederic]

Yes, thats true. Mozart has been closely related to this. His music some how make children more clever, not just in maths. Thats why you see all these CD's made just for infants to encourage parents to give them music.

[amee]

Is it specifically Mozart that makes children more clever?
Or just classical music in general?

[chopinetta]

Some say there are specific Mozart pieces that makes you better in school...
for instance this study on college students, one group who listened to mozart and another who didn't.
The after a few weeks the first group got higher scores than their usuas and higher than the group who didn't.

But I think it really doesn't matter because I listen to Chopin a lot and surprise! I got the highest math grade in the whole grade level at school, I'm even the math club president and the math coordinator! But I did listen to beethoven a lot when I was small...

I've got friends as well who are good pianists and good mathematicians. Well, this guy who's one of the best young pianists in our place is taking up BS Math in college! I think they're really related!

[BuyBuy]

About math and music, check any site abou Pythagoras and tuning.

He set the basis for our music understanding, considering that consonant pitches are related by simple ratios (like the octave : 1:2, the 5th : 3:2).

You can learn a lot about different musics (not only western music, but also modal music, pentatonic music...) if you are confortable with math.