Topmusicanswers
- How is math able to predict the consonance or dissonance of musical pitches?
- What mathematical concept is used in music?
- How can we determine if a combination of notes is consonant or dissonant?
- How do you quantify dissonance?
How is math able to predict the consonance or dissonance of musical pitches?
In sixth century BC, Pythagoras discovered the mathematical foundation of musical consonance and dissonance. When auditory frequencies in small-integer ratios are combined, the result is a harmonious perception. ... This result indicates a link between consonance and the dynamical features of the signal.
What mathematical concept is used in music?
Besides abstract language and notation, mathematics concepts such as symmetry, periodicity, proportion, discreteness, and continuity make up a piece of music [4]. Numbers are also very instrumental, and influence the length of a musical interval, rhythm, duration, tempo and several other notations [4].
How can we determine if a combination of notes is consonant or dissonant?
Chords built only of consonances sound pleasant and "stable"; you can listen to one for a long time without feeling that the music needs to change to a different chord. Notes that are dissonant can sound harsh or unpleasant when played at the same time.
How do you quantify dissonance?
To compute a measure of dissonance one should take into account harmonics, i.e. compute all the pairwise contributions to the measureand sum them up (not too hard to do). For chords of more than two pitches you just sum up all the pairwise contributions to the measure, fundamentals and harmonics.
