is music science?

[cambrian_exp]

i just wanted to know that is music science? or related? since it has its own theory , language and exprimentation ( rock music was invinted by exprimenting on blues and metal by exprimenting on rock)

[HASViN]

in my point of view i think music is science.....because of what i have learned in school ..... every thing is related to science .......so i think this is also something like that.so.....science is music

[Jeff Stallar]

Smith's 1st Law of Syncopative Attraction: For all live songs featuring a consistent backbeat between 65 and 96 bpm, the number of panties thrown on stage will be directly proportional to the amount of leather worn by the performers at a rate of 1.344 panties per sq. meter of leather.

 

Seriously though, if it's a science, then what are the rules? If I test your rules, will I get the same result 100% of the time?

[ecoli]

I'd prefer to think of music as an artform. Science is unrelated to music except in the sense that music obeys physical laws.

[YT2095]

I agree, Music isn`t Science, it can be explained by Science though, same as the planets or even us aren`t Science, But they also can be explained and understood Scienficaly also

[oatjay]

it isn't science, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

[coquina]

Music is based on math and science. There is math behind all the rhythms, and it is a good math exercise for one's brain to learn how to sight read. For example 4/4 time means there are 4 notes in a measure and a quarter note is equal to 1 beat. 6/8 time means their are six beats to a measure and an 8th note gets a beat. One has to figure out the whole measure before one plays the first note, when sight reading, one usually reads 4 measures ahead. There is also math involved when figuring out chords and harmonics.

 

Science is involved with the sound waves. Bands and orchestras tune to A440hertz. ( http://www.uk-piano.org/history/pitch.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency)

 

However, unless one put one's heart into it while playing, music is just technical noise.

[Royston]

Synthesis of waveforms could be regarded as science...if you understand about adding harmonics to a raw sine wave and know what you're going to get then science is applied before the creation of music.

 

Musical styles crossing over et.c isn't scientific.

[insane_alien]

well all sound is related to science and music is a collection of sounds that happen to give joy to certain listeners

[why?]

i agree that music is a form of science.

example a piano works on the movement of wires. The precise vibration of the wires makes a specific sound. So physics is involved.

[jordan]

So physics is involved.

Like has been pointed out before though, there is a difference between science and being explained by science. Technically, everything can or (hopefully) will be explained through physics, but that doesn't qualify everything as science.

[V-Man]

Music is based on math and science. There is math behind all the rhythms' date=' and it is a good math exercise for one's brain to learn how to sight read. For example 4/4 time means there are 4 notes in a measure and a quarter note is equal to 1 beat. 6/8 time means their are six beats to a measure and an 8th note gets a beat. One has to figure out the whole measure before one plays the first note, when sight reading, one usually reads 4 measures ahead. There is also math involved when figuring out chords and harmonics.

 

Science is involved with the sound waves. Bands and orchestras tune to A440hertz. ( http://www.uk-piano.org/history/pitch.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency)

 

However, unless one put one's heart into it while playing, music is just technical noise.[/quote']

 

Much agreed.

Robert Jourdain also agrees, in his book Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy.

In it, Jourdain describes music as a combination of noises which somehow has a profound effect on human psychology. I'd definitely say that the study of music as a science belongs to the psychology department.

 

(BTW, I highly recommend purchasing this book.)

[Jeff Stallar]

Music is asthetic and subjective. It is not a science. I might be willing to call it a SOCIAL science though.

[sameer]

Music is sound. Sounds are waves. Wave is science and thus music is science.

[Pangloss]

The way I see it, creating music is not a science, but there is a fascinating science behind the structure of music. If you study traditional music theory you can learn about this. Some of the work done by the 17th and 18th century masters in laying the foundation of modern musical theory is (IMO) very much akin to modern scientific analysis.

 

One of the questions raised by music theory that I think is interesting is the following question: Are we simply so used to hearing the 12-tone polyphonic scale and accompanying chords that we view anything that adheres to that structure as "music", or is there something about that structure that causes it to be music regardless of our preferences or interests?

 

It's kind of a chicken-or-egg problem, and it can only be solved in a few ways, perhaps one of these:

- Ask aliens (if they ever show up)

- Stop using it and start using something else

 

Most experiments with the latter (and there have been many) have failed. But is that because there's something wrong with the creative process used, or because there's something fundamentally better about the well-tempered scale? Nobody really knows the answer to these questions.

 

But answering them is very much an application of science.

[Christ slave]

Science and art are the same thing...

[Jeff Stallar]

Following are the definitions of "science:"

 

1. a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws: the mathematical sciences.

2. systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.

3. any of the branches of natural or physical science.

4. systematized knowledge in general.

5. knowledge, as of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study.

6. a particular branch of knowledge.

7. skill, esp. reflecting a precise application of facts or principles; proficiency.

 

Therefore, I'm going to amend my previous statements and say this instead: Whether something is a science or not is determined not by the particular area of study, but by the way in which it is approached. Science is merely a way of looking at something.

[YT2095]

Science and art are the same thing...

 

No they`re not.

[ctc7752]

Music can be said to be a type of science as it is the use of sound waves to stimulate nerve endings. Try this: play soft or classical music in the presence of your plants and watch them grow.

[aj47]

how about composition, surley that is completely unrelated to science?

[Lyssia]

how about composition, surley that is completely unrelated to science?

 

I think that depends a lot on what kind of composer you're talking about. Webern championed a type of music called serialism which is literally composing by numbers (and the analysis of such pieces is great fun to boot!). Contrarily, many of the Romantic-era works seem to have absolutely no semblence of a structure to them at all. Bach's works could be said to be somewhere in the middle (although harmony and counterpoint are much more structured than most other types of music anyway) - almost composition by numbers, but still with the odd unpredicted surprise here and there.

 

When it comes to modern popular music, the progressions involved are often so dull that you wonder if many artists just have a machine that churns stuff out when you turn a handle.

 

As for the original question, I always had the idea that music was more closely related to maths than to anything involving the scientific method.

[JonM]

Neurology and psychology...

 

How about the study of what makes our minds enjoy music as opposed to just noise?

 

Harmonies in sound have an effect on our minds somehow and that is science, its neurology and psychology. Just what is it that makes the great music by Mozart and Brahms and countless others so great; how does it have such a profound effect on us and our emotions? How is sound as in music related to our emotions?

 

Science is everything, music and art included.