Harmony
in mathematics
Try the following experiment. Fill a jar with
water. Bang the jar.
Now take the same jar half filled with water.
Bang the jar.
Repeat but taking the jar a third full, a quarter
full…
Pythagoras discovered the
notes all seemed to have a beautiful harmonic
relationship.
Our bodies seem tuned to
recognize some inherent beauty in the series of
fractions 1, 1/2, 1/3… The sequence of notes
are called the harmonics of the lowest note.
Harmonics are responsible
for why a clarinet sounds different from a violin.