Music and Math are like peanut butter and jelly...

April 1 2017

I remember being told that Music and Math were directly connected to each other and thinking, “yeah, right”, but, then I also remembered hearing one of my parent’s friends mention that her family lived in the apartment building across from Albert Einstein and that she recalled hearing him practice his violin, and that he was an accomplished musician! There was also Pythagoras who figured out the relationship between musical scales, satirist Tom Lehrer who was a mathematician, and Art Garfunkel who received his MA in Math.

Recently one of my students, Imogen Brown asked me to participate in her Girl’s Group Extracurricular Science Project. She was going to test many volunteers and see what their vocal ranges were. She had seen a similar test online and was going to research it for herself.

She had some of her classmates and parents sing the lowest to highest notes that they could comfortably sing. She documented each volunteer’s results and came to the following conclusions:

1. Professional singers have a larger range than untrained singers.
2. Every singer had a different vocal range.
3. People had fun singing & participating in her study.
4. Girls love Science!

It’s a thrill to know that your child is making those life long connections on their own. Music and Math are just like peanut butter and jelly! They’re good on their own and even better when they’re together!