Re: [tuning] A Young Person's Guide to Music and Number (was CD Sales...)

> And I'm aware
> he was once somehow involved with a band involving some beautiful
> young actresses.

Hmmm. I was in a band with Demi Moore's first husband, but I quit while she was still an underage groupie, nothing to do with her, of course...Hee! Sorry... Oh, my... ;-)

I saw a rock band the other day on campus that was pretty talented, young and good-looking and all, and I was cracking up remembering those days. I caught the laughing eyes and twisted smiles of some of the other --not so young, but not so old (!) as me-- students, as if thinking, too, "Oh, GOD. I remember THAT. So young. So stupid. So much FUN!"

Later, I tried to repair my 'math damage', but it was already kind of too late...

I actually had a guitar teacher who advised me to cut math and practice! RRRrrr!

I'm presently really trying hard to brainstorm a Senior Project for a Music Ed. degree, that could take a more rigorous (?) pedagogical approach to music and number, for high school (and elementary school?) kids, especially the ones who are getting bored or frustrated in their mathematics lessons.

I especially intend to insert tuning (not just the most rudimentary "acoustics"), and whatever could work out of that into a multicultural thrust (ie non-western music!), without being just silly or kind of patronizing (as a lot of what I've seen along those lines).

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Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:24:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Pete McRae <ambassadorbob@...>
Subject: Re: A Young Person's Guide to Music and Number (was CD Sales...)

...

[Pete]
I'm presently really trying hard to brainstorm a Senior Project for a Music
Ed. degree, that could take a more rigorous (?) pedagogical approach to
music and number, for high school (and elementary school?) kids, especially
the ones who are getting bored or frustrated in their mathematics lessons.

I especially intend to insert tuning (not just the most rudimentary
"acoustics"), and whatever could work out of that into a multicultural
thrust (ie non-western music!), without being just silly or kind of
patronizing (as a lot of what I've seen along those lines).

[Yahya]
For some simple maths using ratios, why not explore the history of the
monochord in Ancient Greece? Unless I'm mistaken, we (collectively)
now know much more about actual Hellenic practice than Helmholtz did.

For something possibly less contentious, you could get them to make
panpipes, perhaps using modern Peruvian instruments as models; or
even willow-bark flutes - an old standby of "Things to Make and Do"
books written for the youth of the British Empire in its last days!

The maths of pipes, is to first approximation very similar to that of
strings, as I'm sure you know, so you could use either pipes or strings
to explore tuning by ratios.

With the monochord, you can also explore the relation of pitch to
tension - given by a weight suspended from the free end.

You may have seen the recent discussion on the Harmonograph, or
double pendulum. Using a simple pendulum gives some fun physical
maths. And your pendulum and weight could come from turning
your horizontal monochord to stand upright! Simple and inexpensive
apparatus can be improvised to serve these dual purposes.

So what of the double pendulum? I've wondered idly whether
there is a good way to "lay it flat" to produce a musical instrument
with two tunable lengths ... let me know if you have any ideas!

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