The eerie symmetry of a perfect ping

or, ‘taking a bunch of cowbells and dropping them down the stairs ‘

(december 01, 2014)

“Add ‘m up, account for luck
you never know”

The Score, one of the editions of Samuel Hansen’s math podcast Relatively Prime (published in the Fall of 2012), features Scott Rickard — an engineer and mathematician with a keen interest in music — who reflects upon a possible ‘objective’ and ‘formal’ interpretation of highly subjective notions like (musical) ‘beauty’ and ‘ugliness’. Or, formulated in a somewhat more modest manner: of what we find ‘pleasing’ in music and what not.

It is difficult to disagree that what generally — by ‘the populus’, to use Scott Rickard’s words — is experienced as ‘pleasing’ in music often will be linked to various sorts of repetitions, to patterns in sounds and tones building up ‘expectations’ for the listener, which then may or may not be fulfilled. “I would argue that pure random music, although to some people it might sound beautiful,” Scott said, “will be difficult to classify as such. That is probably not what the general populus would call beautiful.”

He then continued by giving the off-the-top-of-his-head illustration of sonic/musical ugliness, that became a main reason for this article to, eventually, come into being.

Here’s the example that was: “taking a bunch of cowbells and dropping them down the stairs”.