Why do we study Music ?
Art
Math
Science
Music is ..
Foreign
Language
Physical
education
History
Music is a Science ...
• It is exact, specific.
• It demands exact acoustics.
Music is a Science ...
• A conductor's full score is like a
chart that indicates
frequencies,
intensities,
volume changes,
melody, and
harmony.
• all at once and with the most
exact control of time.
Music is mathematical ...
• It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time
into fractions.
• It must be done instantaneously, not worked out on
paper.
Music is mathematical ...
• Notice how the division of a whole note is like
fractions in math.
Music is mathematical ...
•The rhythms of the boompipe follow a mathematical
1-2-3-4 pattern.
Music as a language ...
• The semantics of music is the most complete and
universal language.
George Harrison and Ravi Shankar – music has no boundaries.
Music is a foreign language ...
• The notation is a highly developed shorthand that uses
symbols to represent ideas.
Music is a foreign language ...
•
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French.
Presto
Music is history ...
Music usually reflects
• the environment and times of its creation,
• often even the country and/or cultural feeling.
Music is history ...
Music is physical education ...
It requires
• coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and
facial muscles.
• control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest
muscles.
• all of which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears
and the mind interprets.
Opera Singers carry notes that seem to last forever.
How do they do it?
Using …..
•Breath control – careful regulation of
the airstream escaping from the lungs.
and
•Resonance in the vocal tract.
Breath control – music IS physical ed
• The opera singer first flattens the diaphragm
,to get maximum expansion of the lungs.
• While exhaling, she uses her diaphragm
control to ration the air so she can hold her
notes longer.
Resonance – Music IS a science
• Sound amplifies in the cavities of the human
vocal tract due to resonance.
• Resonance allows singers to sing loudly
without exhaling much air.
• That’s why a trained singer can sing at full
volume without producing a flicker in the
flame of a candle held in front of his mouth.
Music develops insight and demands research ...
Music is all these things, but most of all,
Music is art ...
• It allows a human being to take all these, dry, technically
boring, difficult techniques and use them to create
emotion.
• That is one thing science cannot duplicate; humanism,
feeling, emotion.
Why does some music give you goose bumps?
• Music stirs up different emotions – sadness, happiness,
nostalgia,fear etc.
• All emotions stimulate a part of the brain called the
hypothalamus.
• The hypothalamus sends messages through the nerves to
contract muscles in the skin – the result, the hair-on-end
sensation of goosebumps.
So, what is music?
Is birdsong music?
How about the tap-tap-tap of a hammer, or the
wail of a creaking door?
Is playing a garbage can different than playing a
drum?
Music is a part of living
Music...A Part Of living...
• Music is inherent in the very nature of man.
• The tiny infant will often respond to a rhythmic
sound, beginning to hum even before speaking.
Goo-googa-ga
Music...A Part Of living...
• Rhythm and music abound in nature all around us.
Music is in us as well
• The wood wren sings the first four notes of
Beethoven’s fifth symphony. How did that happen?
Music...A Part Of living...
• It's an ability inherent in every
child, simply awaiting
development.
• Unfortunately some children
may never know the joys of
creating their own music.
• To be denied that opportunity
is to forfeit this natural means
of self expression.
And, Music is fun !
• Fun to learn
• Fun to listen to
• Fun to create
Did you know ?...
• When children study music in school , they improve their
reading, spelling, and math skills.
Pythagoras - Greek philosopher/Mathematician/Musician
Albert Einstein – Physicist/Violinist
Did you know ?...
• Students taking music courses scored an average of
20 to 40 points higher on both verbal and math
portions of the SAT’s.
Pythagoras - Greek philosopher/Mathematician/Musician
Albert Einstein – Physicist/Violinist
Did you know ?...
• Students who participate in their school
band are 52% more likely to graduate
from college.
Pythagoras - Greek philosopher/Mathematician/Musician
Albert Einstein – Physicist/Violinist
• A recent study showed that music
students have the highest rate of
admittance to medical schools.
Above all, Music –
• Is creative and advances learning ability.
• Builds self confidence.
• Is a form of beauty.
Pythagoras - Greek philosopher/Mathematician/Musician
Albert Einstein – Physicist/Violinist
• Has lifetime value.
• Enhances social development.
Albert Einstein on music
“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I
often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my
life in terms of music .... I get most joy in life out of music.”
Albert Einstein on music
(When asked about his theory of relativity)
"It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving
force behind that intuition.
My discovery was the result of musical perception.”
And finally ….did you know ….?
• Albert Einstein played the violin.
• Pythagoras was a musician.
• Tchaikovsky was a mathematician.
• Leonardo
da Vinci- Greek
also wrote
music.
Pythagoras
philosopher/Mathematician/Musician
Albert Einstein – Physicist/Violinist
• Nixon and Truman were pianists.
• Clinton plays the saxophone.
• Alan Greenspan plays the saxophone and the clarinet.
• Stephen King plays the guitar.
THROUGH
the
ARTS
KNOWLEDGE
becomes
SKILLS
The end