{"id":593,"date":"2009-02-03T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2009-02-02T23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/?p=593"},"modified":"2023-08-07T10:42:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T08:42:03","slug":"math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/","title":{"rendered":"“Math professor figures formula for Beatles success”"},"content":{"rendered":"

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, here<\/a>. Jason Brown, math professor in Nova Scotia, identified rhythmic patterns in Beatles songs in order then to produce a “Beatles” song of his own. The result<\/a> is quite impressive. The issue that arises here, though, is that, while the recognition of musical and mathematical patterns are closely related. music and maths are not the same cultural product. And while the WSJ report implies that Brown found the mathematical “key” to what makes a Beatles song so “fresh” and lovely,\u00a0 indeed so perpetually satisfying, the question at stake here regards the boundary between, on the one hand, the identification of a satisfying pattern and the possibly concomitant activation of a reward mechanism upon its finding, and, on the other, the artistic determination of what is aesthetically satisfying – a question that lies on the border between cognitive psychology and aesthetics. Mathematics as music of the spheres – that idea has an old appeal and ancient history. But\u00a0 it can be turned on its head: perhaps one may attempt to study the nature of mathematical cognition via musical cognition. Even if mathematics do underly all musical patterns (and Brown could have “created” a Bach, a Mozart, a Brahms), one might also ask whether Brown might not have used his sense of song – what one superficially may understand as the musical sense – to do maths. Open questions. But the song is worth listening to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, here. Jason Brown, math professor in Nova Scotia, identified rhythmic patterns in Beatles songs in order then to produce a “Beatles” song of his own. The result is quite impressive. The issue that arises here, though, is that, while the recognition of musical and mathematical patterns are closely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":689,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"Math professor figures formula for Beatles success" - International Cognition and Culture Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Math professor figures formula for Beatles success" - International Cognition and Culture Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As reported by the Wall Street Journal, here. Jason Brown, math professor in Nova Scotia, identified rhythmic patterns in Beatles songs in order then to produce a “Beatles” song of his own. The result is quite impressive. The issue that arises here, though, is that, while the recognition of musical and mathematical patterns are closely […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"International Cognition and Culture Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-02T23:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-07T08:42:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Noga Arikha\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/\",\"name\":\"International Cognition and Culture Institute\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Math professor figures formula for Beatles success\\\" - International Cognition and Culture Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-02T23:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-07T08:42:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/#\/schema\/person\/c9c5708bef486426191bb9515e314638\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/blogs\/nogas-blog\/math-professor-figures-formula-for-beatles-success\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/#\/schema\/person\/c9c5708bef486426191bb9515e314638\",\"name\":\"Noga Arikha\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cognitionandculture.local\/wp-content\/uploads\/nogas-blog-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Noga Arikha\"},\"description\":\"Historian of ideas, philosopher, writer. Author of Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours (2007). Currently at work on a book about brain and self, in collaboration with neurologists. 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