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FanFaire at the San Diego
Science Festival 2010
EYES
on the FIRST USA
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FESTIVAL
SCIENCE & MUSIC
in ANCIENT TIMES
FanFaire at the SAN DIEGO SCIENCE FESTIVAL - 2009
NIFTY FIFTY LECTURE
SCIENCE
& MUSIC at the
NEUROSCIENCES INSTITUTE
MINDING THE ARTS
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It may not be immediately obvious to most people, but YES! there has
always been a connection, one that goes back at least to the days of
antiquity, if not to the beginning of history. Consider these:
1. MUSIC - A MATHEMATICAL DISCIPLINE
In ancient times it was taken for granted that MUSIC is a MATHEMATICAL
DISCIPLINE - one of four areas of study, the others being ASTRONOMY,
GEOMETRY and ARITHMETIC and together these made up the four liberal
arts essential for the education of the human being.
2. PYTHAGORAS (580/572 - 500/490 BC)
The Greek philosopher, mystic, mathematician/scientist PYTHAGORAS and
his followers (the PYTHAGOREANS) believed that where there are harmonious
relationships, there is music. PYTHAGORAS heard music in the sounds
emanating from the blacksmiths' anvils being hit and determined that
the ensuing harmony was governed by simple ratios - i.e., one anvil
"was half the size of the first, another was 2/3 the size, and
so on." The practical consequence of his discovery of these
ratios was the Pythagorean system of tuning musical instruments based
on the ratio 3:2.
He also saw/heard music in the harmony among the planets and stars,
a system governed by mathematical equations in which each planet produced
by its orbit a particular note according to its distance from the Earth.
Hence, the origin of the now popular term "MUSIC OF THE SPHERES"
- a fitting euphemism for the harmonious relationship between music
and space that PYTHAGORAS elaborated with his theory of numbers.
PYTHAGORAS,
recognizing that man is subject to the same laws of proportion that
govern music and the universe itself and that different musical modes
have different effects on listeners, also used music as therapy.
He is said to have cured a youth of drunkenness by prescribing a melody
in a particular mode and rhythm.
Profoundly aware of the interconnectedness of music and mathematics,
the PYTHAGOREANS were not surprisingly both musicians and mathematicians.
3. SOCRATES (c. 469 BC–399 BC) and PLATO
(c. 429-347 B.C)
The
Pythagorean views on music were not lost on these great philosophers
of the Western World who certainly were not scientists or mathematicians
in the mold of PYTHAGORAS, although PLATO himself was a master of geometry.
In fact, most everything known about PYTHAGORAS, none of whose writings
survive, was handed down through the ages by PLATO (who was SOCRATES'
most famous student) and the NEO-PLATONISTS. PLATO and SOCRATES
(known to us also through PLATO's Dialogues) thought the soul of the
world to be knit together by the harmony of music, and music to be the
one mathematical discipline that could appeal to the senses and influence
the soul.
"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful." - The Republic of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1888, p 88
Thus, in PLATO's Republic, music is seen as an effective instrument for indoctrination, character development and the education of youth - albeit one to be used exclusively for the upliftment of the state. Thus, music or any musical innovation that produced the opposite effect or was thought to endanger the state was banned.
4. ARISTOTLE
(384-322 BC)
Tutor
to once and future kings (e.g., Alexander the Great, Ptolemy), ARISTOTLE
was both philosopher and scientist, but not a mathematician. PLATO's
most famous pupil, ARISTOTLE however departed from his teacher in his
approach to knowledge. The difference is best exemplified in RAPHAEL's
painting "The School of Athens" shown at right with PLATO
pointing heavenward, representing his belief in a higher world of unchanging
and universal FORMS (or IDEAS) independent of and apart from the particular
things in our phenomenal world - which are merely imitations of these
FORMS; and ARISTOTLE beside him, gesturing toward the earth, representing
his belief that universal principles (or FORMS) are derived empirically,
i.e., through our direct experience of particular things. In other words,
PLATO held that knowledge comes before experience while ARISTOTLE maintained
that experience comes before knowledge.
ARISTOTLE established logic as a formal science and laid the foundations
for the study of biology. He was among the first to create a comprehensive
system of Western philosophy, covering a wide array of subjects on which
he lectured and wrote extensively: morality, ethics, politics, logic,
aesthetics, music, drama, tragedy, poetry, astronomy, physics and zoology,
and his writings are to this day a pillar of Western civilization. Indeed
it was said of ARISTOTLE that he knew everything that a man could possibly
learn in his time.
Although
ARISTOTLE differed from PLATO in his approach to knowledge, he nevertheless
shared his teacher's view of music as an excellent instrument for moral
character development and therefore an important component of education,
which he saw as music's primary purpose, the secondary purposes being
as pastime and amusement. , Music to ARISTOTLE was one of the four branches
of education, the other three being: reading and writing, gymnastics,
and painting. Writing quite lengthily on music, he said:
"In rhythms and melodies there are, especially when compared
with their true natures, close imitations of anger and gentleness and
of courage and moderation and of all their opposites and of the other
moral qualities, and this is verified from experience: we experience
change in our soul when we hear such things."
- Politics, 1340a
Thus
it was evident to him that the young must be actively educated in music
- not only in music appreciation but also in singing and in playing
a musical instrument.
In writing on the role of music in education, Aristotle even went so
far as to prescribe what instruments should be taught; what scales,
melodies or rhythms are appropriate; and to what extent the art should
be pursued. As to the latter, his advice was to stop short of
attaining the proficiency of a paid professional performer who practices
the art for the pleasure it gives to himself and his listeners, an activity
then deemed "rather menial" and thus not proper to a free
man.
(See Politics, 1340b)
5. PTOLEMY (90 – 168 AD)
The
Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer of Greek
or Egyptian origin is best known for writing three great scientific
treatises that had enormous influence on Islamic and Greco-Roman science:
1. the Almagest, the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy based on selected astronomical calculations of his predecessors in which he envisioned a geocentric universe as a set of nested spheres.
2. the Geographia, a compilation of what was known about the world's geography during his time, giving instructions on how to create maps of the entire inhabited world. Its errors notwithstanding, this treatise and the cumulative additions of text and data by a succession of geographers through the centuries, constitute a major contribution to the history of cartography.
3. the
Tetrabiblos (or "Four books"), a treatise
on the ancient principles of horoscopic astrology in four books, was
the most popular book on astrology in ancient times.
But he is also as well-known for his influential work on music theory
and the mathematics of music entitled Harmonics. Partly
echoing the Pythagorean teaching that musical notes can be expressed
as mathematical equations and vice versa, he argued that musical intervals
should be based on mathematical ratios that involve tetrachords and
octaves.
The concepts and theories espoused by these wise men of ancient times
(or philosopher-scientist-musicians, if you will) about the nature of
music and its interrelatedness with science inevitably influenced the
works of the great thinkers who came after them (e.g., Da Vinci, Galileo,
Kepler - all the way to modern times), about which and whom there will
be more as FanFaire's series on science and music continues.
Indeed, much of Western music theory as it stands today is informed
by the cumulative knowledge gained as they pursued in earnest a common
fascination with the "music of the spheres." -GCajipe
/© FanFaire
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