Music, Math and Physics

Much has already been written about the math and physics of music.  We won't add much here, except to acknowledge these things and perhaps use them to kick-start understanding of why music works as it does.  As all you engineers and other science-trained folks will already know, it's not always easy to say that this thing is "math," while that thing is "physics."  Physics and math are often inextricably intertwined.  Not that it matters much here.

OK, music is sound, right?  The physics of music involves sound frequencies, sound waves, sound amplitude, ear mechanics and other scientific concepts.   'Nuff said.  All sounds might be musical, in that they approximate one of the 12 notes.  However, not all sounds sound musical.  Musical sounds are generally pleasing in a particular way; non-musical sounds don't please in that same way.  You usually know musical sounds when you hear them.

I don't understand any more than that about the physics of music, and have survived a long time without ever needing to know more.  If you want to know more, go do some research.

Just don't forget:  Pretty Sounds = Music

Whenever you play or listen to music, you'll be using physics in some way.  You might use electronics to amplify recordings or instruments.  You will certainly have to strum, pluck, strike or in some other way hit an instrument to make a sound.

But again, you don't think of this as physics -- it's just "playing music."  Probably the most intentional physics you'll do in making music is when you say to yourself, "How do I need to move my fingers to make the sounds I want here?"

We already know that the musical scale consists of 12 notes, and that the distance from one note to its neighbor in the scale is equal in all instances.  How do I know that?  I read it somewhere, and if somebody wrote it down, it must be right -- right?

Anyway, I think I read that the Greek mathematician Pythagorus (remember the Pythagorean Theorum from high school?) discovered that a length of string or wire, stretched tight and then plucked, made a pleasing sound.  He then discovered that if he kept the same tightness, but decreased the length by some amount, he got a higher sound, but one which sounded like the same note.  That, of course was an octave.

Eventually, he somehow decided to divide the octave into 12 equal intervals, and hence we have these 12 notes.

Not much about Pythagorus, but you do need to be able to count.  And you say, "Is this guy crazy?  I learned to count when I was 2 or 3 years old, but I can't play music worth a hoot."

Yes, you can count already, and music generally doesn't require counting much above 12, so you have much of the ability already built into your head.  You'll need to count a couple of things to make music well.  First are musical beats, which make up rhythms.

But more importantly to constructing musical sounds, you need to understand the intervals between notes, and you will need to know which intervals are pleasing and which aren't.  For example, there is a 12 note interval between octave notes.  If you start on an A note and count up or down by every note, the 12th note will be an A.

The point is that you have to count to determine intervals.   The counting is really quite easy, as you'll see when we get to that subject.