Mathsing the Mysteries of Music

Venue: The Model, The Mall, Sligo, F91 TP20

Ever wondered why much of the world shares the same conceptual framework of having 7 ‘basic’ notes — the white keys of the piano? Even the concept of adding ‘versions’ of them, like flat/sharp, to give us a total of 12 notes in an octave, spans many cultures in East and West. And you might even have heard of the greater numbers of ‘microtones’ used in many other music systems — like the ‘22 shrutis’ famous in South Asian raag music, or the 53 ‘commas’ in Turkish music theory. Learn the science behind such musical marvels, and more! Really understand how music and sound work, as we get a good look under the hood, exploring how the mathematics of frequency ratios shapes our perception of pitch. We’ll play with musical math, and see how the One is actually (at least) Three. And then how 3 × 3 can be 5, 6, or 7, depending on which Holy Trinity we choose to prioritize and apply, and how! And how a ‘generator’ ratio can give us the 12, or even more if we don’t feel like stopping!

Time permitting, we’ll go further: using special software to enter and explore an 11-D Microtonal Matrix J