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Montreal professor finds math formula under the music
CBC News
Posted: Feb 23, 2012 10:40 AM ET
Last Updated: Feb 23, 2012 10:39 AM ET
Professor Daniel Levitin studied 400 years of music to find the pattern. Canadian PressTurns out there really is a rhythm to the universe.
Daniel Levitin, a scientist who studies the human brain, did a computer analysis of music in many different styles composed over the past 400 years.
From Johann Sebastian Bach to Scott Joplin to Elvis, this pattern is not something we are conscious of as we listen, but seems to touch off a response in the human brain.
The research team, which included Vinod Menon of Stanford University, found that all the musical compositions are composed of repeating motifs that reflect the overall structure of the work itself. At the same time, each composer had his or her own highly individual rhythmic signature.
As CBC’s Jennifer Westaway reports, the formula corresponds to fluctuations in everything from natural disasters to traffic flow on busy highways.
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