The Sound of Numbers

Category: Ch 1: Video Examples

  • Ghanaian drummers

    We experience time as simultaneously linear (on a timeline) and cyclic (on a clock)–a fact that turns out to be interesting mathematically.  How is this music organized in time? What are the roles of the individual drummers?

  • Vacuum Cleaner “Music”?

    From the film The Triplets of Belleville (Chomet 2003).  When is a vacuum player “music?” Is the presence of the audience and stage relevant to what we call “music,” or not?

  • Wolfram Tones

    http://tones.wolfram.com/#NKM-G-30-31-2290167177-0-9700-184-92-4-2773-49-0-35-301-35-502-27-901-0-0-0-0-322 Can a mathematical algorithm (set of instructions) make music?

  • The “music” of silence

    Is John Cage’s 4’33” music? If not, what about the silences (“rests”) in the middle of a song? Here’s an interview with Cage in which he challenges common assumptions about music.  An interesting contrast to the definition I proposed–“music is the art of organizing sound in time”–is made by him here: “If music is the “enjoyment” of…

  • Rap in Sign Language

    Disregarding the backing beat, is this rapper a musician?