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Lecture for Students: David Kung

JMM Lecture for Students

How Math Made Modern Music Mad Irrational!
David Kung
St. Mary's College of Maryland

Friday, January 15, 2010, 1:00pm - 1:50pm
MAA Lecture for Students
Room 3014, 3rd Floor, Moscone Center West

Abstract:
The scale used by 20th century classical musicians is strikingly different from that used in Bach's time. In fact, over the past 500 years, a wide variety of scales have permeated Western music. Amazingly, none of them was ?in tune"! In fact, in some sense, no piano is ever in tune.

The reason for this is purely mathematical.

Starting with a single vibrating string, we'll use some physics and some advanced mathematics to make sense of the various sounds a violin can make. Add to the mix a little music theory and some basic arithmetic, and we'll be able to construct several different scales and see what's ?wrong" with each one. Finally, by constructing the modern scale, we'll be able to answer the question posed in the title.

Throughout the talk, these concepts will be illuminated with excerpts played on the violin, including passages from Bach, Mendelssohn, and a few more modern composers.

Biographical information:
Dave Kung fell in love with both mathematics and music at a very early age. More successful with one than the other, he completed three degrees from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, none in music, before joining the faculty at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Now chair of the Mathematics Department, he still enjoys playing violin in a variety of student and community ensembles. He has authored many articles on topics in harmonic analysis and mathematics education, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2006 Teaching Award from the MD/VA/DC section of the MAA.

Recently, Dave spent the past year on sabbatical at Fudan University in Shanghai, trying to avoid natural disasters and not make a fool of himself in Mandarin (he was only successful at the former.) He was also working on an upcoming book about college math teaching entitled, "What Could They Possibly Be Thinking? Understanding Your College Math Students."