April 5, 2005
Math is a universal language.
Music is a universal value.
The internet is a universal medium.
Musemath is an experiment in combining them to promote universal e-learning. The more the math can be animated, the more universal the experience.
It is not of course a substitute for practicing scales or dividing digits. It merely aspires to provide some incentive and interest in the subjects.
The subject is not always easy, if music is not complex it will not hold your attention very long - but the animations make it easier than it used to be and there is potential for rich rewards.
Statistics indicate 10 minutes viewing of the animations is about right. See if you can find something that interests you for about that long. There are no advertisements, hidden agendas, or pop-up distractions. You can spend considerably longer if interested - most find they got here by mistake and leave just a bit too quickly.
So far it is a study in Traditional Western Tuning (12 Tone
Equal Temperament) which is the music I am most familiar with. I have done some
preliminary research into other tunings.
This is non-professional and free. Treat it as you would an expensive professional
site - that is, question it and search out the truth for yourself. There are
no requirements other than an interest in the subject. If I can figure out a
way to make money with this I will do so, that is often the best way to promote
ideas. So far the figures prove insuffient.
These animation techniques make it possible to interact with process over time - backwards and forwards at whatever pace is convenient. The animations are designed to help visualize, and aid in the appreciation of both math and music - so they complement each other.
Generally, the approach here is to answer some questions I had when I first started to play guitar such as:
In seeking answers to the above, the explanations all led to "complex motion". This is something the computer can visualize very well and I did not understand it until I created it for myself in animation form.
An objective, not yet fully realized, is to allow for the re - creation of the animations by visitors to the site - so that the problems and solutions can be re-discovered and and experienced firsthand by those whose interest has been arroused.
Prior to the computer, I believe, it was understood only by those who could either read math formulas as easily as a paperback novel or sweetly sing it on some chosen instrument. Rarely did each speak the other's fluent language, rarer still could they explain it to the non-initiate.
Sometimes it was not really understood at all, though presented with such mechanical perfection as a computer chip might envy.
I am not all that fluent myself yet but I now find both science and art more enjoyable and interesting - that's the idea.
There are some partial answers here and some links to other sources.