Re: [LAD] Music, Undecidability, and the tiling problem (was Re: update: OT-ish: realtime 2d placement algorithms :-/)

On Tue, 25 May 2010 12:31:57 -0700 Niels Mayer <nielsmayer(a)gmail.com> wrote: This is putting the cart before the horse. People were making music long before there was any remotest concept of mathematics. Many of us still work on the basis of just noodling about and 'ooo, that sounds nice' without the slightest thought of relationships etc. The only time I ever think about chords, progressions, is when I've more-or-less finished a composition and/or want to collaborate with someone else. When I was a child, I put together a construction of timber and waxed string. To this day I don't have the faintest idea what the string tunings were. I just know it produced some lovely sound combinations. Group/orchestral instrument & synth makers are no doubt deeply involved in the mathematics of their designs, but the players don't necessarily have any concept of this. A friend of mine is a member of a local choral group. He can't read music, just uses the dots as a vague reminder of when bits go up, down speed up or slow down. He seems quite happy like that. There may be incredible mathematical 'truths' in music, but I think it will be a very sad day when people concentrate on these rather than just having fun. -- Will J Godfrey http://www.musically.me.uk Say you have a poem and I have a tune. Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.