Week 26: Musical Math

You don’t have to be a musician to play with music and math. This week, I encourage learners to experiment with sound and patterns. Below is a list of ideas to experiment with: Create a rhythm as an individual or a class that follows a sequence and build on it, (drums can be hands on […]

music with the pisano period harmonies of mod 12 and 24
music with the pisano period harmonies of mod 12 and 24
This piece was created using the Pisano Periods created by dividing the Fibonacci sequence by 12 and 24.

You don’t have to be a musician to play with music and math. This week, I encourage learners to experiment with sound and patterns. Below is a list of ideas to experiment with:

  1. Create a rhythm as an individual or a class that follows a sequence and build on it, (drums can be hands on tables or buckets).
    • Drum a Fibonacci set or other mathematical beats, (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, repeat), with various instruments.
    • Drum a decay rhythm of holding notes, (ex: 8 beats, 4 beats, 2 beats, 1 beat, 1/2 beat, 1/4 beat, repeat).
    • Drum in a circle where learners explain the pattern of a selected drummer with math. Take turns creating and guessing patterns.
  2. Use a tuning app to study notes on an instrument in Hz. Plot the notes of an octave – what do you see? (This is better for learners that use the Cartesian coordinates.)
  3. Take a concept that is being studied and represent it with music. (Addition, subtraction, variables, exponents, etc.)
  4. Create a map from a sequence or set to a melody on an instrument. I did this with the Pisano Periods a couple of years ago and had a lot of fun with it.
    • To do this:
      • Determine the set of numbers you would like to use: {3,1,4,1,5,9,2}
      • Map the range of the set to a note: 1 = C, 2 = C#, 3= D, 4 = D#, etc.
      • Play your melody:
4 measures of music to play pi