Musical Universe

The Mother of all exact sciences, Math, is actually an inherent part of creating and understanding music.

First of all, merely reading music requires mathematical skills: you’d probably know that music is created, shared and stored in a written format, and these written notes are divided into sections called measures, with each measure having equal amounts of beats. These are the same as mathematical divisions of time. Hence, to read, understand and repeat a rhythm means literally to count it. Moreover, since these mathematical and musical skills overlap, it’s been proved that music can affect the way you study your math and think constructively (for the good, obviously): a research by dr. Frances Rauscher has shown that children provided with instruction on musical instruments scored much higher on a variety of tasks, including arithmetic. So next time someone from your ménage asks you to turn off that music while doing your homework,  you’ll have your arguments. And if you happen to choose some popular song for your studying soundtrack, now you’ll know why: apparently music, just like math, is all based on patterns. And we humans have an innate love for structured, understandable patterns rather than dealing with random muddles. For example, the well-known wedding hymn, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, is said to be so popular because of its repetitive structure. This is why listening to the latest RNB hit somehow requires much less effort than to bebop jazz!

As if this were not enough to prove the musicality of math, there is a whole separate genre called math rock, attached to a certain style of progressive and indie rock. Developed in the late 80s and having its roots in bands as famous as King Crimson, math rock is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, angular melodies, and extended, often dissonant, chords. The “math” comes from the idea of combining different time signatures. Using 4/4 and 3/4, for example, the two different patterns would synchronize every 12 measures, because 3×4=12. Sounds geeky, doesn’t it? Well, the music itself surely doesn’t. Give it a listen yourself!

So enchanting rhythms engulf us and get us in the groove. But if we go wayyy back in time, it seems like it all started with the most primordial of instruments – voice. In all probability, music has played an important role in the lifecycle of humans perhaps even before we could speak. Significant evidence has been discovered that very early man developed primitive flutes from animal bones and used stones and wood as percussion. Voice would have been the first and most natural means of expression in our distant ancestors, used to bond socially or comfort a sleepless child. Thus, voice is presumed to be the original musical instrument, and there is no human culture, no matter how remote or isolated, that does not sing. It is from these humble beginnings that the music we enjoy today evolved. It is likely that the very first forms of singing were based on simple imitation of sounds heard in nature. It is hard to trace when more communicative and meaningful sounds started being incorporated, but it what doubtlessly an important step in the creation of language. Primitive man sang to invoke his gods with prayers and incantations, celebrate his rites of passage with chants and songs, and recount his history and heroics with ballads and epics. There are even cultures that regard singing as such an awesome act they have creation myths relating that they were sung into existence. Later people began to sing together as part of their communal rites, soon adding multiple voices and melodies to sound at once, a phenomenon known as polyphony. It is not known when or where “art” music appeared (as distinct from folk music), but there is evidence the various Mesopotamian cultures that thrived from 3500 to 500 B.C. already considered music an art, and their writings mention both professional musicians and liturgical music. 3500 B.C.! Can your brain even grasp how long ago that is? No wonder singing is now so much more than just a mimetic call for nature or a religious act. Songs have been used to help people work (labour songs), represent nations (anthems), make people fall in love (serenades), guide the dead to the heavens (funeral songs) and even compete – there’s a whole international contest where people do nothing but sing, and yes, you’re right, it’s Eurovision.

Just as we utter the all-encompassing word “universe”, there is no way we can escape physics. And guess what. Music plays its part there, too. The interconnection of these two realms is actually so broad and evident that some universities even offer a degree combining both! Is there any chance that physics itself is music, then? Plato was actually the first to argue that the most essential constituents of the world, that is, both the cosmos and soul, are “made out of music.” According to the great philosopher, they are both structured according to the simple ratios that correspond to the primal musical intervals: octave (2:1), perfect fifth (3:2), perfect fourth (4:3). The discovery was so powerful that it also affected astrophysics, giving rise to an ancient philosophical concept known as Musica universalis – literally ‘universal music’. The concept regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of music, although this “music” is not thought to be audible, but rather a harmonic, mathematical or religious concept. Soon physicists noticed that explaining complex mathematical structures and stuff understandable by no one but themselves is much more productive with the help of musical metaphors. Why? Well, because the answer is yes – physics IS music. One important metaphor used for this purpose was one classic Mother, or should we say parents, of music – strings. Even though at first most physicists believed that everything in the universe is made of point-like particles, String Theory, developed in the late 1960s, proposes that the fundamental constituents of everything around us are rather one-dimensional “strings”, vibrating in a way similar to that of a violin. What we perceive as particles are actually vibrations in loops of strings, each with its own characteristic frequency. The theory is still full of unanswered questions, but the potency is real – using music can possibly help scientists finally understand some of the most crucial aspects of our universe, for example, how gravity actually works. Go music!

Believe it or not, there is another way in which music has a power to save lives. Some of the deadliest illnesses, the mental ones, can be treated with the help of music. Research shows the benefits of music therapy for various mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, autism, trauma, Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. Music acts as a medium for processing emotions, trauma, and grief, but it can also be utilized as a regulating or calming agent for anxiety or mood dysregulation. And it’s not only about listening to a positive song or two, musical therapy can be both receptive and active. Studies have been made proving numerous mechanisms to be effective tools for musically healing the mind, including lyric analysis, song-writing, playing an instrument, and social connection through sharing music. Music is even used for patients with special needs, like using rhythmic entrainment for physical rehabilitation in stroke victims. Interestingly, different genres are often exploited with different patients – for instance, trance, which is said to enhance a feeling of calmness despite the rapid pace, is broadly used with teenagers. Other music styles considered therapeutic are jazz, new age music, meditative and Celtic music. One more reason to turn that radio on more often.