How Music and Mathematics Relate

By: David Kung, The Great Courses

Narrated by: David Kung

Great minds have long sought to understand the relationship between music and mathematics. Both involve patterns, structures, and relationships. Both generate ideas of great beauty and elegance. Music is a fertile testing ground for mathematical principles, while mathematics explains the sounds instruments make and how composers put those sounds together.

Understanding the connections between music and mathematics helps you appreciate both, even if you have no special ability in either field - from knowing the mathematics behind tuning an instrument to understanding the features that define your favorite pieces. By exploring the mathematics of music, you also learn why non-Western music sounds so different, gain insight into the technology of modern sound reproduction, and start to hear the world around you in exciting new ways.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2013 The Great Courses (P)2013 The Teaching Company, LLC

so beautiful

which has inspired me with explanation and experience that i never thought about. greateful for amazing landscape

Outstanding job of relating Music & Math. A+

If the title is appealing to you, then you will enjoy this course. Insightful, entertaining and just wonderful.

Amazing teacher

It’s a pleasure to listen to this very smart professor who is versed in music and math. I am so fortunate to have come across his lectures. Thank you so much.

Loved it . Thanks David.

I would recommend this book to every music lover. Perhaps some will expect it to be too technical but one doesn't have to try to grapple with the maths. The book can be enjoyed and its depth of the analysys appreciated wuthout followingvtge maths. I enjoyed it for both. I will try to encourage my less mathematically inclined friends to listen even if only for the appreciation of another dimension of music. However, if you see a music philosopher then the book shoujd not be missed. Give it t a try. Just for the fun of it.

Need to pay close attention

This is definitely a course that requires the supplemental pdf and your close attention; casual listening simply isn't enough. Even still, it is worth your time. I think Prof. Kung really pulls the lectures together well, and concludes by showing us that, even from an early age, all of us have an affinity towards patterns and music, which are highly related to mathematics.