TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Through the ages, the sound of music in myriad incarnations has captivated human beings and made them sing along, and as scholars have suspected for centuries, the mysterious force that shapes the melodies that catch the ear and lead the voice is none other than math. It’s geometry, to be more precise, and now, a trio of 21st-century music professors from Florida State University, Yale University and Princeton University have analyzed and categorized in brand-new ways the mathematics intrinsic to musical harmony. Their cutting-edge collaboration has produced a powerful tool they call ‘geometrical music theory,’ which translates the language of music theory into that of contemporary geometry. The research is described in the April 18 issue of the journal Science, where the publication of work by music theorists and composers is rare if not unprecedented, said Clifton Callender, an assistant professor of composition in FSU’s College of Music. Callender is co-author of the paper ‘Generalized Voice-Leading Spaces’ with Ian Quinn of Yale and Dmitri Tymoczko of Princeton. ‘Our research offers a variety of tools for understanding and exploring music by drawing upon contemporary mathematics in natural and musically relevant ways,’ Callender said. ‘It also […]