Musicians and Mathematicians: A Common Link?

[thebluelagoon]

Because I was wondering, right. There's meant to be this big maths-music link. And just assuming many of you are strong in maths - are you strong in music too? Do you play an instrument?

And what came first... the maths or the music?

For me it was the music, I started on the piano when I was 5 and only started excelling in maths (well, excelling more noticably than in anything else) when I was 10. So I'm now Grade 8 on the piano (diploma next year!) and Grade 5 on the flute, which I've been learning for five years. I've also been singing for three years. (really just a side effect of my school's music department).

So. Spill. Musos. [said mu like the greek letter, sos to rhyme with shows]

 

[St. Aegis]

actually i don't know too much about my math part, but i have a knack for science
and in addition,
I am a concert pianist

 

[Integral]

I am pretty good with math, can't carry a tune in a bucket. I can play any instrument in the world... on my CD player. I have no musical talent what so ever.

 

[thebluelagoon]

That's pretty neat, St Aegis. I'm... technically... a concert pianist... I just don't play at any concerts...

Next year I'll get more chance, this year I'm overshadowed by all the geni who already have their diploma and get paid to play for people.

What I've always found nice about music is that the perfect chords - first fourth and fifth - have their roots (lol) in maths, thank you Pythagoras - check http://www.amarilli.co.uk/piano/theory/pythcrcl.asp" ...

 

[tribdog]

I can pick up the basics on most instruments quickly, but I never sound artistic when I play. I sound mathematical.

 

[CRGreathouse]

I'm good with math, working on an MS, but not a mathematician: I'm a programmer. I don't play any instruments, but I sing (baritone).

 

[binzing]

I suck at math but i play at least some of the following: Guitar, banjo, mandolin and formerly cello...if it has frets i can figure out something on it.

 

[redargon]

I sing in the shower and in the car.
I play drums on every surface in the house and at work. I love paradiddles and making up some of my own beats and bridges and stuff, but never owned a drumkit.
I love listening to music, it's one of my most passionate hobbies and interests actually.
I tried guitar for a while, but got a little dispondent with crappy equipment (it was a second hand 12 string acoustic guitar with broken and repaired (with glue) neck. Not very forgiving for a beginner.
I like mixing stuff in software, like using the fruity loops software and drum machines and the like.
I did the levels for a friend's band at some of there smaller performances.

I'm an engineer. Good at maths, good at most fields of science, good at languages (I don't consider myself brilliant in any of these topics, but good enough to get by). I think these are all interesting when working with music, but I don't think it is a requirement. I know a few people who are amazing musicians, but don't necessarily have excellent maths or science abilities. I also know a lot of people with great maths abilities, but no idea about music or how to play instruments. Then there are those b@st@rds who can do frikkin' everything

 

[thebluelagoon]

Ah the drums thing is brilliant, last year at the music room sleepover there were five of us who just started playing drums on the serving stuff/barbeque equipment/staffroom and just made up our own little tune. I seem to remember being on the sink...

 

[turbo]

Always loved math, always loved music. It's an odd thing about intervals, tunings, keys, timing, etc when I was playing band instruments - I tried to play the music as-written. When I got into guitar and vocals, precision went to hell and "feel" dominated. Still like 'em both, though my music is much looser. I love Bach, but listen to blues most of the day.

 

[Kurdt]

I'm not fond of music but I have a dabble on the guitar now and then. Not great at maths either.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I've always stood out at math and I started playing the guitar about 9 months ago. 3 months ago, one of my friends who started a band asked me to join it and now I'm an indispensable part of it. I have progressed rather quickly on the guitar, but I am not sure if that's because I am good at math or if I just had a knack for it. Maybe it runs in the family (my aunt's an artist and my sis is studying fashion design).

 

[Santa1]

For me it was math -> music -> jethro tull

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Maths and music were always my strongest subjects when I was young (unless you count reading, which I was doing before I was 3). After learning a bit about piano playing from a book, I took lessons from age 6, and started violin at age 8. The maths at higher levels became a bit abstract for me, and I moved more into physics, and for a job I landed up programming computers, but I managed to keep the music going.

By "music" I mostly mean classical instrumental music; I got ABRSM Grade 8 piano, violin and viola as a teenager (back in the 1970s) and now play these instruments (mostly violin now) with three symphony orchestras and in various chamber music ensembles at a semi-professional level. I met my wife (who plays the cello) through string quartet courses. I also play various other instruments such as flute and guitar at a lower standard. For a long time I've had the fun of being the regular "rehearsal soloist" for one of these orchestras, where I play the solo parts for concertos until the official soloist joins rehearsals just before the concert. I've not played any full concertos with orchestra in public, but I've played the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto (somewhat better than Eric Morecambe) and the last of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.

 

[GCT]

Musical ability or genius seems to be a different facet then mathematical genius , even with polymaths the unusual combinations are math and artistic genius however I've never heard of a musical and math polymath. They seem to involve separate brain regions e.g. correlation of left and right brained.

 

[turbo]

I don't know how brain-sidedness correlates, but I found out something interesting over the years. If I try to sing while playing drums or electric bass, I have tremendous difficulty, but if I'm playing rhythm or lead guitar, I have NO problem singing. I had a nice 60's-vintage Fibes drum kit with a Fibes snare that was to die for (FYI, all the time that Buddy Rich had other sponsors, he always had a Fibes snare behind the kit.) and loved drumming, but could not sing (well) and drum for the life of me. Singing while playing bass was a bit easier, but not my best effort. I have a lot of respect for Sting and Jack Bruce, as a result.

 

[GCT]

I somewhat believe that the chaotic nature of the progress that is involved in artistic talent or an artistic endeavor may not be conducive to that of the mathematical study.

The pace of the work , the way that an insight is arrived upon , the insipiration e.g. grandiostic visions are extinguished immediately with someone preoccupied with studies in math - everything has to be put in check , emotional cycles - composure is a virtue with math while the artist has more burdens with his or her gift

... are not the same.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

I somewhat believe that the chaotic nature of the progress that is involved in artistic talent or an artistic endeavor may not be conducive to that of the mathematical study.

The pace of the work , the way that an insight is arrived upon , the insipiration e.g. grandiostic visions are extinguished immediately with someone preoccupied with studies in math - everything has to be put in check , emotional cycles - composure is a virtue with math while the artist has more burdens with his or her gift

... are not the same.

Although it might seem that imagination in art might in some way conflict with the orderliness of mathematics, I don't think that's the case; they might be somewhat independent traits, but there are certainly plenty of people who demonstrate both artistic and mathematical skills, such as those who work with computer-generated art. There are also for example physicists and mathematicians who have written imaginative science fiction.

I might however admit that there might be a tendency for mathematically minded people to work with more ordered forms of art.

I think there is a much stronger link between mathematics and music than with other arts. This not only includes playing instruments or singing but also includes composition and improvisation, both of which are normally considered imaginative and creative activities.

 

[turbo]

I have a copy of EGB (eternal golden braid/Escher Godel Bach), and while the content and presentation of the ideas in that book seem a bit pretentious and are a bit "out there" in some respects (he seems to be reaching in some analogies, for instance), the author makes some good points. Some of the concepts that carry from music to graphic arts to mathematics include pattern recognition, repetition, mirroring, inversion, resolution, etc.

 

[GCT]

To succeed in math one has to have an organized mind - a lot of it has to do with the value of the working memory ... just check out Wiles' book and observe all those equations much more being able to account for the meaning of each of those equations.

 

[GCT]

I have a copy of EGB (eternal golden braid/Escher Godel Bach), and while the content and presentation of the ideas in that book seem a bit pretentious and are a bit "out there" in some respects (he seems to be reaching in some analogies, for instance), the author makes some good points. Some of the concepts that carry from music to graphic arts to mathematics include pattern recognition, repetition, mirroring, inversion, resolution, etc.

Yeah spatial facets are important to both.

 

[scorpa]

I used to be pretty decent at the saxophone, I loved that instrument, but gave it up when I moved to the city...it is hardly an apartment friendly instrument, especially if you like your neighbours not trying to murder you in your sleep. I dabble in guitar now, I love it to but I don't play often at all anymore, I just always seem to busy with school now that I am in my clinical year. I'm hoping to pick it up seriously again when I graduate, as my equipment is just to nice (my amp anyway) to sit and collect dust. Oh and I suppose I should mention I am not a math major or anything like that, I am a medical sciences major with a love of medical toxicology/chemistry.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

To succeed in math one has to have an organized mind - a lot of it has to do with the value of the working memory ... just check out Wiles' book and observe all those equations much more being able to account for the meaning of each of those equations.

Well, you also have to have a lot of imagination. Algebra and geometry are two representations of the same thing and are inter changeable. If I can imagine what a problem really means, I find it a lot easier to find the solution and the solution automatically has some meaning attached to it.

Its the same with music, the more you can imagine what a tune should sound like, the easier it becomes to find the notes to "fill" up the tune and make it more complex and colorful. When I started out, playing a GCD combination was pretty plain, now when I play the same chords I give a lot of variations between chords and as a result I favour fingerpicking over strumming, it gives me a lot more freedom and makes it a lot easier for me to do the fills.

 

[Desh627]

I play 7 instruments, have perfect pitch, am proficient in advanced theory, and often mentally transpose for various parts I have to do (usually in pit orchestras). In terms of maths, my testing scores (AP, SAT Reasoning, and SAT Subject Math Level 2) all point to proficient.

So yeah, you could say music and math have a strong correlation, at least in me they do.

EDIT: I should specify, I play 7 intruments well: clarinet, bass clarinet (two TOTALLY different instruments, trust me...), guitar, bass guitar (once again, two TOTALLY different instruments, especially in the way I approach them), trumpet, alto saxophone, and sitar (classical Indian instrument).

 

[Ian_Brooks]

i've been playing the electric guitar for close to 12 years now.

Self taught theory etc

I started with metallica before I picked up paganini

good at maths but i absolutely abhor it.