math and music
September 12, 2009 7:27 PM   Subscribe

Canon 1 à 2 from J. S. Bach (slyt) For you math teachers out there....the Crab Canon
posted by HuronBob (14 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
A former bandmate once told me The Beatles used the Crab Canon a lot. Is there any truth to that?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:04 PM on September 12, 2009


Cool! And here's me rereading Gödel, Escher, Bach again (this time in Hungarian; it's, um, really been slow going).

Now, could we get it scored for loons and cats? That would be the ultimate win.
posted by Michael Roberts at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2009 [1 favorite]


No, I'm pretty sure that the Beatles did not ever write (or, at least, record) a crab canon. This is not to say that they were not intellectually or musically capable, because that's not even germane to the conversation. It's a really specific contrapuntal canonic technique, and the Beatles did not write in that style.
posted by nosila at 8:23 PM on September 12, 2009


That is not to say that the Beatles didn't actually have crabs, a really specific venereal parasite that most rock musicians probably know better than Bach.
posted by Faze at 8:43 PM on September 12, 2009


Ah, sorry, I was thinking more of a looser definition - such as palindromic chord progressions.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:44 PM on September 12, 2009


"Ah, sorry, I was thinking more of a looser definition - such as palindromic chord progressions."

Oh, you mean like C - G7 - C. Yeah, I see what you mean.
posted by charlesminus at 9:08 PM on September 12, 2009 [1 favorite]


Well, I was thinking something more complex than two freakin' chords ... but alright, I get it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:09 PM on September 12, 2009


Well, you know, this was during a period in Bach's life when he was heavily hitting the Klein bottle.
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:06 PM on September 12, 2009 [10 favorites]


HAHAHAHAHAHA! That was wonderful!
posted by milkwood at 10:28 PM on September 12, 2009


Bach's great musical answer to SATOR square. Gotta love him.
posted by Matthias Rascher at 12:02 AM on September 13, 2009


great link. thx!
posted by megob at 12:21 AM on September 13, 2009


Holy crap! I got a recording of the crab canon years ago when i read GEB. But this animation really brings home its intricate beautiful genius. Sadly my brain can't hold enough of the music to fully appreciate the backwards/forwards/inversion thing....
posted by storybored at 4:16 PM on September 13, 2009


Also, for GEB fans, the Never-Ending Canon from the Musical Offering.
posted by storybored at 4:31 PM on September 13, 2009


A lovely illustration of Bach's genius. And no, none of the Beatles could never write a crab canon or probably any canon at all. Writing like this takes the big fellas.
posted by QuietDesperation at 9:03 PM on September 13, 2009


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