On Parallels Between Words and Music

Authors

Will Turner, University of Aberdeen, ScotlandFollow

Abstract / Synopsis

A generalised song is a means of drawing parallels between words and music. The parallels are encoded in a mathematical structure, which is interpreted in a verbal structure and a musical structure. Here we develop a number of new techniques for drawing such parallels, in giving two examples of generalised songs, `Relation', and `Merge/Split'.

The first five partials of a note played on a piano are roughly 0,12,19,24,28 semitones above the fundamental.`Relation' is a generalised song, whose musical part is played on a piano, constructed from the mathematical relation 4.28 = 3.12 + 4.19.

`Merge/Split' is a generalised song whose mathematical part consists of the mathematical operations of merging and splitting, the braid relation, and coassociativity.

DOI

10.5642/jhummath.EGJA3086

Recommended Citation

Will Turner, "On Parallels Between Words and Music," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 14 Issue 1 (January 2024), pages 208-228. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.EGJA3086. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol14/iss1/11

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