How do different cultures hear consonances; what are the facts that affect our perceptions and how might a word we use change if it is spoken or sung?
Is the way we hear and sing music unique to all ethnicities? And why, as we become aware by listening to music from around the world, do these differences and similarities arise? What follows is a summarization of two studies on this topic.
Posted on June 18, 2024
The major contributions to science that Galileo brought to the world are well known. But putting these discoveries in the musical context could turn out to be more relevant that one would think.
The origin of Western science is linked to the study of harmony. As it was understood, Harmonia comes to be in all respect out of contraries; for Harmonia is the unity of multiplicity, and the agreement of things that disagree (the fitting together of extremes). Full article here
Posted on February 24, 2024
Since the detectors of the electromagnetic spectrum in which we bathe are receiving the full spectrum of its emissions, and since the visual part of this spectrum (the one we can see with our eyes) is only a small part of its range, we have to “transpose” its data so that we will be able to match our senses. This is usually understood as making it accessible to our eyes, as we are an intensely visual civilization. But the sound spectrum is increasingly being used, and there are several reasons for this development. Full article here
Posted on August 29, 2023
The obvious answer is no, because some waves are at frequencies our ears cannot detect (about 30 Hz on the low end and 18 kHz on the high end, although most of us have a hard time hearing beyond 12 kHz). But this is only a very anthropocentric view. Many other species can hear way beyond the human range, the most well known being elephants on the low end and bats on the high end, and we don’t really know the full extent of the animal kingdom’s ability to hear the full range of sound frequencies. Full article here
Posted on July 8, 2023
My last post about the navigational Heiau called Ko’a Holomoana in Hawaii made me notice another megalith that could be described as “navigational”. Although the scale of the map it appears to refer to is not as wide as the Pacific Ocean, it nonetheless describes a large area.
In this post, I will be making a case for “Les Menhirs de Lutry” as a geographical alignment. This megalith is made up of large and not so large stones on the shore of Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman, which is how it is called in the area, a name that dates from the Romans – ‘Lacus Lemannus’ – from a couple of thousand years ago). As I understand, no one has ever published this interpretation, but it seems to be an oversight, and should at least be contemplated as an explanation of its unique layout. Full article here
Posted on December 31, 2022
During my second trip on the Big Island of Hawai’i, a trip that turned out to be as spectacular as the first one, was made quite unique by the fact that the Mauna Loa volcano started erupting the day we arrived. This made me quite happy, especially since the weather predictions were not looking too good for the week. If I was not able to see and photograph the fire in the sky (i.e. stars), I would get to see it coming out of the ground. But this post will not be about this event, but about the ongoing controversy regarding Mauna Loa’s neighbor volcano Mauna Kea and the telescopes sitting atop it decoding the universe. Full article here
Posted on May 15, 2020
Until recently, I had some difficulty explaining the origin of the link between music and science. Of course, I understood this deep connection, that frequencies are ultimately numbers, and they relate to each other in rational intervals. This understanding is due to the fascinating fact that the ear has both qualitative and quantitative abilities: it has the ability to understand the moods/colors and the ratios of sounds. This ability makes it a pretty unique sense; in fact, it is the only sense that can accurately measure and “feel” at the same time. Full article here
Posted on January 16, 2019
The formulas of mathematics are the scores of that mind insight, they are symbolic representation system that describe what we cannot see, hear or touch: mathematics. The same thing applies to music: we could not see, hear or touch music in a world without sound.
See the latest post on the Science and Music Blog
These facts show that noise plays an important role in our perceptions. So how is it that a noisy medium (according to all measurements made with devices such as a spectrograph) such as vinyl L.Ps. has come roaring back so that its growth has outpaced compact discs, which are in a steady decline?
I started this Blog in 2009 to muse on this interesting topic. It is still hosted on our old server for a while so I want to make my earlier posts available.
Hope you enjoy reading these:
Posted on January 4, 2019 Moon in the News
Posted on September 19, 2018 Science and Music Quotes
Posted on June 14, 2016 Yes There Have Been Aliens
Posted on April 24, 2016 The Drake Equation
Posted on July 22, 2015 Waste or not to Waste (follow-up)
Posted on April 28, 2015 Waste or not to Waste
Posted on March 26, 2015 The Oldest Analog recording…by far
Posted on March 11, 2015 Facts and Fiction
Posted on March 15, 2011 Promoting Science Awareness
Posted on March 15, 2011 Music’s Origin
Posted on July 29, 2009 Music and Brain Recovery
Posted on April 6, 2009 Music and Synesthesia
Posted on April 6, 2009 Music and Memories
Posted on March 3, 2009 The Power of Sound
Posted on February 17, 2009 Feed-back loop, the groove, and other earth shattering phenomena.
Posted on February 3, 2009 The International Year of Astronomical
Posted on January 21, 2009 Science and music everywhere…
Posted on December 2, 2008 Welcome to this Discussion
