Music as math and a harmonious Universe

From the inception of the Multiverse sound and frequency have been intrinsically linked to mathematics while modern science is now proving the value of music and sound to the wellbeing of humanity.

In her book: Fauble, L. (2016). Musical Medicine: Understanding the Science of Sound (1st ed.), Lisabeth Fauble, master musicologist and professional freelance writer outlines: ‘how ancient beliefs and practices concerning music and sound converge with modern knowledge and technology to influence the development of new theories in science and medicine. Religious and cultural anthropology, archaeology, and philosophy point to the prevalence and importance of music and sound in societies that may predate Paleolithic man. The role of sound and music in mind-body mechanisms, consciousness, communication, and emotion are explored through a wide range of notable mathematic, scientific, and evidence-based theories. Recent studies show how music and sound can enhance therapies to transform the brain and relieve mental, emotional, and physical suffering. This burgeoning evidence, along with the proven efficacy of integral healing modalities, can be used to help health professionals, therapists, and individuals craft more effective, sound-based, personalized therapies and treatment plans that perpetuate both individual and collective health and well-being …Music is one of the core elements of humanity's experience in the modern age, woven throughout every aspect of our lives, and music affects us on every level of our being. Music makes us laugh or cry, inspires dance and helps us sleep and gives us joy, courage and a sense of identity. Music rallies group support and gives power to a cause, or music can cause conflict and is even used as torture today. Music stimulates memory in the most severely impaired, triggers feelings of tension or relief, communicates ideas and feelings, helps us learn and retain information and assists in regulation of physiological systems and motor response. Music and sound are present in every aspect of the known physical universe and have been embedded in our very nature since the beginning of time. Here, we explore the many different facets of music in accordance with the process of human evolution to discover how music has been an intrinsic, integral part of our collective progression as a species.’

She goes to to describe the many descriptions of the Sound origins of our universe and the mathematical relationship therein: ‘Many ancient and modern scientific and philosophical theories, along with religious and spiritual systems, ascribe the structure and existence of the universe to sound, specifically to musical ratios built on mathematical equations and recently validated through the evidence of vibrational frequencies shown by quantum physics. The very title of Edwin Hubble's “Big Bang” theory denotes an initial sound while using mathematical and scientific underpinnings, including Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, to attribute the creation of the universe to a single, explosive event (Netting). MIT physicist Max Tegmark proposes a Mathematical Universe Hypothesis stating, “that there’s a single mathematical structure that is our reality...In fact, there’s no evidence right now that there’s anything at all in our universe that is not mathematical,” (“Do We Live”). Music has long been considered a universal, mathematical language. 6th century B.C. mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras is credited with the discovery of the musical ratios and intervals commonly used in Western music today. Pythagoras' concepts were expanded upon through the work of successive scientists and philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato and Johannes Kepler. Kepler based his great work “Harmonices Mundi” on the Music of the Spheres, while Aristotle stated, "[the Pythagoreans] saw that the ... ratios of musical scales were expressible in numbers [and that] all things seemed to be modeled on numbers, and numbers seemed to be the first MEDICINAL MUSIC: AN ANATOMY OF MUSIC 8 things in the whole of nature, they supposed the elements of number to be the elements of all things, and the whole heaven to be a musical scale and a number," (qtd. by Calter). Figure 1. Petrarch's Love. “Music of the Spheres and the Almighty Harmonica.” Web. 27 Nov 2013. 19th Century scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla stated, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration,” and sensed the universe to be MEDICINAL MUSIC: AN ANATOMY OF MUSIC 9 “…composed of a symphony of alternating currents with the harmonies played on a vast range of octaves,” (qtd. by Cheney). If the very structure of the universe itself works in such accord with the musical ratios and intervals that we innately understand and use in everyday language, it can be considered very likely that music was a major component of our evolution as a human species. Planets, moons and stars, black holes, yeast and heart cells, ocean waves, everything that has mass in the universe vibrates enharmonically. The language of the universe is harmony. What then, is the statistical or imaginative likelihood human language came before tonal communication?’

You can read - and buy - Lisabeth’s book here: Music Therapy: Understanding the Science of Sound - Kindle edition by Fauble, Lisabeth. Arts & Photography Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com

You can also read another of her articles here: From Neanderthal to neuroscience: healing with sound and

With thanks and much appreciation to Lisabeth for her work and her permission to reference it here.