MathFest 2007: A Rock Musician Finds Mathematics

Indie-rock musician Robert Schneider's love of mathematics didn't originate with a classic book on calculus or from a great high school teacher. No, The Apples in Stereo front man's affection for math began with a tape recorder. "Upgrading" to a broken-down 1972 Ampex MM1200 tape machine in the late 90s had an impact not only on the music that Schneider was producing but also on the way he thought about the music.

The Ampex wouldn't work reliably, Schneider recalls. But rather than to keep forking over money to get it fixed, he learned to work on the machine himself, with the help of a do-it-yourself book from Radio Shack. And, on the first page of the book, he saw the equation that changed the way he looked at the world: V = IR (which expresses the relationship among voltage, current, and resistance).

"When I saw this equation, it just blew my mind," Schneider says. "This equation controls not only my tape machine, but the telephones, and the electric lights, and well . . . everything in our lives."

Since then, Schneider has become somewhat of a math buff.  He reads about Leonhard Euler, takes some college math and physics classes when he's not on tour, and plays around with a new non-Pythagorean musical scale that he invented. Ho hum, right?

"Math takes up more of my mind's space than music does," Schneider says. "I think about it from when I'm feeding my kid breakfast until I go to bed."

As for inventing a new musical scale, Schneider decided to tweak Pythagoras's classic scale, which is based on whole-number ratios. He took the logarithms of the numbers used to measure frequency and came up with his own 12-note scale.

"In a standard chromatic scale, the tones are divided into equal intervals; in the non-Pythagorean scale, the tones are much closer together as you go up the octave, to the point where they sound very similar," Schneider explains.

"And to get to the next octave in my scale on the piano, you would need a keyboard with a lot more keys," he adds. That's 256 to be exact, but who's counting?

Once Schneider arrived at MathFest 2007, held in early August in San Jose, he spent his first evening participating in a public interview with MAA President Joe Gallian. Those who attended the event were greeted by the sounds of "Energy," the fourth track of his band's new album, New Magnetic Wonder. Little did the attendees know how appropriate the song was. Schneider spent the 45 minutes of the interview bouncing around the stage, talking about math and music like he had just opened the world's greatest Christmas present.

He talked about his musical heroes (Beatles producer George Martin and Beach Boys lead singer Brian Wilson), and his mathematical heroes (Euler and René Descartes), noting in particular why he would have liked to sit down and discuss math with Euler.

"I'd like to talk with Euler because I think you could just ask, 'What are you working on today, sir?' and he would probably tell you something really cool," Schneider said.  "Also, from what I understand, he was a pretty good time."

Looking back on his high school days, Schneider talked about failing algebra one year because he was being "rebellious," then getting an A in the course the very next year. He also discussed how math is now woven into most parts of his everyday life. One time, he recalled, "I was walking down the street and I saw some leaves falling off a tree and I thought, 'hey, this has something to do with the prime number theorem,' and I had a very exciting day."

After the interview, Schneider presented a CD and a vinyl copy of New Magnetic Wonder to Gallian, with whom he shares a common love of both mathematics and music. Gallian is known as a fanatic fan of the Beatles and even teaches a class on the group's legacy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

"Dr. Gallian has my dream job," Schneider says. "He not only gets paid to teach mathematics but gets to teach about the Beatles, too."

Robert Schneider talks with MAA Associate Secretary Jim Tattersall at the student papers celebration at MathFest (right) where he also performed a handful of songs (left). Photos by R. Miller.

After the interview, Schneider attended a number of lectures and short courses throughout the weekend, sporting his MAA lanyard the entire time. He was rarely seen without his ragged copy of William Dunham's Euler: The Master of Us All, and he bought several books at the MAA booth.

He then highlighted the MAA's "20th Anniversary Celebration for MAA Student Paper Sessions" with a six-song acoustic set, which drew a number of guests who had come solely to see Schneider perform. After each song, he would peer into a composition notebook on the floor to see which track he wanted to play next. Chances are that the notebook also contained plenty of mathematical scribbles, but that's just another way that Schneider mixes his obsession with his hobby. Ask him which is which, and he says, "I'm not obsessed with math, I'm just in love with it."—R. Miller