IUBio

Music and IQ

Dominique Larré Dominique.Larre at wanadoo.fr
Sat Sep 30 03:56:46 EST 2000


Hans-Georg Michna a écrit dans le message
<41e9tss3hut4mv05mjo6avctnpr4pr02ng at 4ax.com>...
:fields at login.itd.umich.edu (Dr.Matt) wrote:
:
<.....>
:
:>19 works.
:
:David,
:
:<...>
I would guess that
:nature simply chose the lowest number for which the mathematics
:of hitting close to 3/2 and 4/3 happen to work.

<...>
:Hans-Georg
=            =            =            =


Gruessdi H-G !

3/2 and 4/3 work for vibrating strings and pipes.

Not with a bell or gong.

There is a broadly held view that consonant intervals vary with timbre.
William Sethares has published a theoretical description/explanation of
the phenomenon. He suggests ways to propose principal musical scale
steps for any given timbre, by minimizing "dissonance".

As I notice that this post (which I read on rec.music.theory) is also
sent to the bionet.neuroscience newsgroup, I take the opportunity to ask
neuroscientists if they have an opinion regarding that particular line
of consonance theory. I understand that some people dismiss it as
"post-Helmoltzian and wrong". Personally I accept Sethares' views
because I have not seen anything better.

Cordial regards

Dominique Larré







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