Bach - Mass in A Minor

[mygoodeye]

Deknor:
"Its a simple key change. The patterns of the song will remain the same, but with different individual notes."

You hit it right on the head... the relation is the pattern.

Nice catch on the comic.

Perhaps the reason that particular piece of music helps Walter think is the pattern of the music.

can you have music in the golden ratio??

[The Marked Mouse]

can you have music in the golden ratio??

Absolutely.

If you have a melodic sequence that increments up via golden ratio (i.e. via Fibonacci sequence), starting at the tonic (the first note of a key), in major, then you'd get the following:

1 : 2 : 3 : 5 : 8 : 13 (which you'll recognize as the Fibonacci sequence itself)

If you translate this into a particular key, it will be more clear. Say, C Major:

C : D : E : G : C : G

The notes to look out for are the 4th and 5th notes in this sequence: the G and the C, which are the 5th and 8th intervals above the first note C. They are called Perfect 5th and Perfect 8th (a.k.a. Octave) respectively. And note that the Perfect 5th is exactly 1/2 the frequency of the Perfect 8th, each and every time.

Also, try playing all those notes at the same time. What you get is a Fibonacci-infused chord... well, it's a C-major-2 basically (a C major chord with a 2nd interval, the D, added in)... and it's a great jazz chord. ("What you need is some jazz...")

Also, here's a fun quote, which I don't necessarily agree with: In the opinion of author Leon Harkleroad, "Some of the most misguided attempts to link music and mathematics have involved Fibonacci numbers and the related golden ratio."

[rbridgeman]

Hi, can anyone please tell me what the song was that Walter played very briefly on the piano when Olivia walked into the lab? It only played for about 10 seconds??? THANKS!

[dawhizz]

On the subject of the key change, it also seems to me a very subtle reference to the alternate universe(s). You have an identical song structure, but a subtle shift in key can transform not only the way you play, but the way you hear the song. It can be simultaneously completely recognizable and completely foreign, in much the same way the alternate universe is merely a "key change" from the one we know at the beginning of the series.