Re: -> mathematic processes cnanging your hearing

[SoundFNR@aol.com]

> Per Boysen wrote:
>  > One thing he said was very interesting IMO: "It changes the way you 
>hear
>  > music when you start working with mathematic processes". Can someone 
>on
>  > this list tell about similar experiences?
>  
>  Briefly: Draw the chromatic scale out like a twelve-pointed circle - a
>  dodecahedron - and note the locations of various chords and scales on 
>this
>  circle. This simple geometric view of intervals will quickly reveal 
numerous
>  patterns in the music 

Take any genre of music, and it's possible to
work out an underlying mathematics for whats going on.

examples, 

strict laws of harmony in JSBach's music,

only 3 chords in a basic blues

very strict guidelines on instrumentation and tempo for dance genres 

always play in 4/4 it's what the punters like

avoid recognisable harmonic + rhythmic structures

etc. etc.

So to some extent you can work back from the maths 
and  recreate a similar music.

Modern composers have been known to start
with a mathematical process (serialism for instance)
and work with it to see what it sounds like.
Theoretically a way to produce fresh new music.

Xenakis uses the maths from architecture to determine 
where the notes go. Listening to his music there's a sense
of an unusual type of regularity. 

andy butler