Music can be defined as the art (or science) of blending vocal and/or instrumental sounds to produce form and harmony. This paper is about the mathematics which underlies both music theory and how different instruments create sounds/notes. Consideration will be given to scales, intervals, and harmonics but not rhythm although it is a fundamental…

This paper describes a fascinating connection between the physics of music and the famous chord in the dissonant rhythmic section of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (1913). The analysis of Stravinsky's chord will draw from the physics of harmonics, musical intervals, mathematics, and cognitive psychology. This highly interdisciplinary…

In this article, the authors describe how integrating music with reading and writing practices stimulated transmediation to (1) honor musical students' identities, (2) deepen readers' meaning making with literature, and (3) invite writers' memories to generate emotional grist for composing poetry. The authors share examples to inspire teachers to…

Compare the sounds produced by a symphony with those produced by a high school orchestra, the notes produced by hitting a tympani with those produced by hitting a trash can lid, and the sounds produced by Al Green with those produced by Yoko Ono. Even though the pitch of a note (determined by the "frequency" of the sound wave) is the…

Little is currently known about the possible benefits of using networked technology to enhance ensemble performance. This study explored whether the introduction of specially devised technology -- networked tablets using traditional music notation -- to a primary school orchestra would enhance the experience of ensemble music. Particular emphasis…

The current study is an interdisciplinary examination of the interplay among music, language, and emotions. It consisted of two experiments designed to investigate the relationship between musical abilities and vocal emotional recognition. In experiment 1 (N = 24), we compared the influence of two short-term intervention programs--music and…

With a heavy dominance on its technical/empirical aspects, the segmented performance, pedagogy, and assessment of Western classical music is undermining its goal of creating art with precision, style, and expressive beauty. This segmentation has its roots in the quantitative assessment processes found in music education and in the note-perfect…

This study explored the skills students develop through participation in instrumental music and the effect it has on their academic achievement through student and parent/guardian surveys. Fifty-eight percent of cognitive skills were identified as being obtained by a majority of students, 70% of affective skills, and 71% of meta-cognitive skills…

This paper synopsizes a series of nine tutorials investigating how various chemical processes can be shown to have musical aspects. Both chemistry and music share a common language: mathematics. Interesting music can be created as chemical reactions--mediated by instrumentation and mathematics (e.g., spectrometry and discrete Fourier…

The National Standards for Arts Education encourages teachers to help students make connections between music and other disciplines. Many state curriculum guides likewise encourage educators to integrate curricula and find common ground between different subjects. Music--particularly vocal music--offers ample opportunities to find relationships…

This article, directed toward classroom teachers, deals with music education as a special case of sound or sounds. Interdisciplinary activities aim to develop listening skills and musical discrimination. (TK)

Have you ever thought of using music as a subject for art? When the author discovered that her third graders studied jazz in music class every February, it seemed an opportune time for her to simultaneously focus on music in art, specifically through the work of African-American artist Romare Bearden. To familiarize her third-grade students with…

Presents an activity combining music and art in which students create a picture expressing a particular style of music. Develops skills in painting and drawing from observation. The paintings include a realistic drawing of one or more instruments and convey the feelings of the instrument's musical style. (CMK)

Because of its exciting use of rhythm and its variety, African music is an excellent musical culture for study. Seventh and eighth grade students, with no prior musical training, learned to play African instruments and dance the Adowa, a traditional dance of the Ashanti people of Ghana. (RM)

Studies of the biology of music (as of language) are highly interdisciplinary and demand the integration of diverse strands of evidence. In this paper, I present a comparative perspective on the biology and evolution of music, stressing the value of comparisons both with human language, and with those animal communication systems traditionally…