Wednesday 16 October 2013

The Surprising Scientific Elements Of Music

I use to only think of music purely as an artistic interest, but many aspects of music could not exist without science.  

One scientific trait is in music theory. When you learn grade 1 and 2 british music theory the notation and musical understanding is fairly simplistic. However, as soon as you get onto grade 3 and 4, you need to develop an understanding of high technical theory, such as augmented and diminished changes, different musical clefs like the bass or alto, some tricky transcription and some increasingly difficult terminology. You get so exhausted trying to decode various compositions that they may as well of been written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Almost all composition is factual - chord triads, chord progressions, major and minor keys and scales all have a particular science and therefore work in a particular way. This leaves less room for abstract interpretation or philosophical understanding. I can't instantly read sheet music and hear a composition in my head, I have to take time to read it before I can understand it. 

The second scientific trait is in music production. Before the days of abundant and affordable music hardware and software, the role of a sound engineer or studio assistant was completely scientific. The hardware consisted of generators or analog tapedesks, and these required a highly competent understanding of physics in order to be fully utilized. These people were more science boffins than music enthusiasts. You still have these experts, but they are involved in more specialized subjects like acousmatics or psychoasoustics. That doesn't mean to say there are less scientific processes in modern music production - far from it. Using the right microphone to record audio requires some scientific understanding of polar patterns. Effective audio compression involves controlling dynamics with accurate ratio, threshold, attack and release settings. Equalization is a highly complex frequency process that changes a track's tone. The art of mixing isn't really an art of all, it's all about keeping a balanced audio spread and making sure the levels are correct. You have a lot of creative leverage within modern technology, but the best processes are usually tried and tested settings. 

The third scientific trait is in performance. The way in which an orchestra performs is systematic - certain instruments may play louder in certain sections of a composition, and the combination of instruments playing produces a rich palette of harmonies, melodies and counter-melodies. All this requires some knowledge of tonality, or in some cases, atonality. Less prevalent in classical music but more prevalent in popular music is tuning, especially when instruments or voices can only sound pleasing if they are in tune, which is another scientific trait. If an instrument or voice is out of tune then quite often it sounds horribly flat (this is not the case in jazz or blues), so precise tuning is essential in live performance.       

The last scientific trait is in music business. Many labels sign bands largely down to facts and figures from online media, which include Itunes downloads, YouTube plays, Facebook friends, Google Analytics and many other sources of metadata. Radio 1 only select artists with good metadata. This example can be a negative aspect of science's impact on music, because many good artists and bands do not get signed or played on national radio stations because of poor metadata.   

These examples show how important science is to music, although that does not mean we should be entirely dependent on it. 

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