Math and Music

When we were watching A Beautiful Mind I was thinking some about the connection between music and mathematics. I've heard a bunch of times that people who are good at one are often good at the other, or at least more disposed to it. I'm definitely a math person and I've also played piano since I was seven, and I definitely can understand the connection. Music is in many ways very mathematical, as far as rhythms and pitches are concerned and what not (especially classical). I can see the similarity between the creativity in a lot of high level math as far as proofs and general problem solving and the creativity of coming up with a musical composition which is also very structured according to certain rules. I think a lot of times if people aren't familiar with this side of mathematics, they consider this connection hard to understand. At least that's how all my relatives were when I was younger and they'd tell me about this (because they knew I was somewhat mathematical).

I thought of this at the point when Nash has started taking his medication and his friend comes to visit him on his porch. He's listening to Mozart, and you can tell it's supposed to kind of suggest his state of mind as a little insane.

Getting in tune with Vas

In class today we spoke about how Vas did not “make sense”. To me Vas is a piece of art. One of my favorite places to go is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. I love to stare at the paintings and to see what happens inside of me. I notice the feelings and thoughts I have as I give myself over to each painting. I notice any sensations I may feel in my body. I take in the colors, the motions, the patterns, the textures…and I allow the painting to speak to me and to speak through me. I have a similar experience as I read Vas. It is not just the text itself which is speaks to me, but the space in between the text which speaks to me. The dangling and patterned words, the symbols, the images…all make up the experience of Vas. In music there are notes and there are the rests in between the notes. The rests are just as important as the notes. The spaces in between the text are just as important as the text. As I read Vas I find there is a certain mindset or rhythm that I need to get into in order for Vas to “make sense.” It is the same mindset I put myself in as I gaze at an abstract painting. It is in this space that I “get in tune" with Vas.