Division: Work it out! - these girls be spittin the math.
posted by madamjujujive on Jan 17, 2009 - 40 comments

The connection between mathematics and music is often touted in awed, mysterious tones, but it is grounded in hard-headed science. For example, mathematical principles underlie the organization of Western music into 12-note scales. And even a beginning piano student encounters geometry in the "circle of fifths" when learning the fundamentals of music theory. ...according to Dmitri Tymoczko, a composer and music theorist at Princeton University, these well-known connections reveal only a few threads of the hefty rope that binds music and math.

The Geometry of Music
See also The Geometry of Musical Chords - Dmitri Tymoczko, Science 7 July 2006: Abstract
See also Dmitri Tymoczko, Composer and Music Theoristvia [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Mar 16, 2008 - 29 comments

The Amen Break and the Golden Ratio by mathematics educator and author, Michael S. Schneider. Schneider, having already researched and written about the golden ratio extensively, noticed it right away when hearing the the amen break for the first time (amen break previously on the blue). While some composers have been known to intentionally incorporate fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio into their works, perhaps this is just another one of the many instances of the ratio showing up in nature.
posted by p3t3 on Mar 12, 2008 - 27 comments

The Klein Four is a group of math students at the Northwestern University who delight in bringing you various lovely, well-sung A Capella songs infused with their very own and very nerdy flavour. They're not the newest of the web, having released their first CD in 2005, but witty lyrics and five-part harmonizing are definitely worth checking out. I did do a search for this and didn't find anything. Please don't kill me.
posted by Phire on May 23, 2007 - 14 comments

Pi to 1,000 places on piano is just one of the many catchy tunes on math sonifications. And check out more interesting things on on artist Tom Dukich's site.
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 28, 2007 - 30 comments

The Integrator is Mathematica's integration capabilities, available over the web. Other online resources from Wolfram include Tones, an automatic music generator, and the venerable Mathworld, an extensive collection of math terms and theorems. (which, yes, has been mentioned previously.)
posted by Upton O'Good on Feb 27, 2007 - 29 comments

The Pianolina - an addictive flash game - is something like a cross between Pong and WolframTones. Brought to you by Grotrian, piano manufacturers since 1835, the pianolina visualizes musical notes as little squares that chime when they bounce against each other or against a wall. Its sophisticated interface lets you add chords, gravity, or start with the basic notes of well known compositions like Beethoven's "Für Elise".
posted by jann on Jun 16, 2006 - 21 comments

Math And Science Song Information, Viewable Everywhere. For all those times you've needed a catchy acappella tune about doppler shifting [mp3] in a hurry, there's now MASSIVE, a fully searchable collaborative database of over 1700 songs about math and science, sponsored in part by the seriously pedagogical Science Songwriters Association. Biz Markie made the cut, and so can you. [via the always-effervescent Research Buzz]
posted by mediareport on Dec 27, 2004 - 14 comments

The Sound of Mathematics Mathematical functions whose output have been jammed into MIDI files. The results are disturbingly musical.
posted by Mwongozi on Mar 30, 2004 - 8 comments

Not 421 CD burners but "the equivalent of 421 burners". Now, most agree the RIAA is grasping at straws trying to control something they clearly can't, but this seems to be the most amusing yet. This article offers a suggestion or two concerning the possible music industry slump.
posted by robotrock on Dec 15, 2002 - 22 comments

"Self-similar syncopations: Fibonacci, L-systems, limericks and ragtime" Along the lines of the book "Godel, Escher and Bach", an award winning essay looks at the mathmatical roots of popular music. I think I'm going to have to find a way to analyze some of my fave mp3's to see how they fall into the Fibonacci sequence...
posted by katchomko on May 19, 2000 - 2 comments