Music and IQ
hans-georgNoEmailPlease at michna.com
Thu Sep 28 02:45:21 EST 2000
you didn't even mention the probable reason why we use a 12 tone
system. I mean, we could just as well use an x tone system.
The reason is a mathematical coincidence, namely that 2^(7/12)
is almost exactly 3/2, 1.5, the musical quint. In fact, it's
1.4983, close enough to 1.5 to be nearly indistinguishable.
Conversely, 2^(5/12) is very close to 4/3, the musical quart.
This makes the tempered tuning possible and enables us to create
music that, for example, changes tune in mid-flow.
However, some contributors to this thread forgot that all this
is not required knowledge to make good music. The mathematical
foundations have nothing to do with making good music requiring
a high IQ because it's mathematical. A musician doesn't think
about twelfth roots while composing. In the brain, music is
detached from mathematics. Nonetheless there's a fair
correlation between the ability to make music and other brainy
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