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Tuesday March 24, 2026
“Music in the Western world was shaped by a shared conception of reality so profound that it endured for some twenty-five hundred years.”
– Robert R. Reilly (The Music of the Spheres, or the Metaphysics of Music)
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
Music is unlike any other discipline, because it is ubiquitous in our lives in a way that is unlike any other discipline. At a certain level everyone is a musician; virtually everybody finds themselves whistling, humming, or singing a song without much thought or training.
Music can influence our mood, our outlook, and even our behavior. It is strong enough to bond us to a person, place, or memory for a lifetime. Music is a magic that transforms our lives in ways we seldom think of. Just as we seldom think about the physics and metaphysics behind that magic.
“Most people do not fully know or understand the mathematical foundation of Western music…”
Pythagoras recognized music as the foundation of reality. The first to discover the mathematical implications of sound, he set the stage for a mathematical manifestation of music. Most people do not fully know or understand the mathematical foundation of Western music and how it plays a crucial role in defining the structure and rules for musical composition.
Over the past 2,500 years we have grown used the complexity of this ancient art form to a point that we no longer recognize or even think about it; it is just what music is and how it works. But it didn’t always work this way. We do not hear music the way they heard music centuries ago; we literally hear music differently today. But most of all we understand music differently today.
“Music reflected the eternal duality and struggle between good and evil…”
Music was once understood to manifest more than just mathematical melody and harmony; it reflected the eternal duality and struggle between good and evil through a mathematical tension called dissonance and resolution. Western music was considered to be more than just mathematics or magic; it was considered to be sacred.
CONSIDERATION #233 – Understanding Western Music
Music is exquisitely simple, and excruciatingly complex. A borrowed church song sung in a tavern, and an intricate Bach fugue played on a church organ. Sacred and secular. Mathematical and emotional. Physical and spiritual. Music is all encompassing. As a music major in the 1970s, I learned how challenging attempting to understand music really was.
“The drop-out rate for music majors was extremely high…”
Music, at that time, still represented one of the most challenging and demanding disciplines in most American colleges and universities. The drop-out rate for music majors was extremely high, often up to fifty percent. Long hours, heavy workload, and high-pressure demands were just the beginning; in the end, you had to perform. Literally!
“A music major must be able to do more than simply perform music…”
Being a music major is ultimately not about playing an instrument or singing; that is just the first step. A music major must be able to do more than simply perform music; they must understand it. And that is no easy task. Although twelve units was considered a full-time student, my average semester schedule was twenty units or more! So, what exactly did I learn? That there is a whole lot more to music than meets the ear!
“Finally, there is the music of the cosmos…”
First, there is the music of instruments, which focuses on musical ability and performance. Second, there is the music of body and soul, which encompasses musical knowledge and tradition. Finally, there is the music of the cosmos, which reflects the mastery of not only performance and tradition, but also the structure of music through composition. All three of these elements were required for a simple bachelor’s degree. Generally, those moving on choose one of these three areas as the focus of their post-graduate work.
Each of these specific areas provide unique information regarding the complex branch of knowledge known as music.
POSTSCRIPT
Music touches the solemnity of the soul. It was considered to be equal to arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy by the ancient Greeks and an integral part of an ancient curriculum known as the Quadrivium. Pythagoras considered music to be the “sister science” to mathematics.
In the Quadrivium, music was treated more as a science than as an art, focusing on the study of acoustics, harmony, and numerical ratios, as opposed to learning how to sing or play an instrument. The ancient Greeks, as well as medieval scholars, believed music to be a moral agent in shaping character and promoting what Aristotle called “the Good.” It was also considered to be a prerequisite for understanding mathematics and the rational order of the universe.
“If we look deeper we begin to discover what Pythagoras discovered…”
The truth is, that today, we take the incredible power of music for granted. For us, it is just another of many choices reflecting our personal preferences and tastes; but if we look deeper into this mathematical mystery of sound, we begin to discover what Pythagoras discovered: music is a physical and metaphysical metaphor describing the nature of reality.
Next week we will consider the Music of Instruments in terms of ability and musical performance…
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