Pythagoras's and Galileo's Roles in Music

Pythagoras

      Pythagoras was born between 580-572 BC and died between 500-490 BC on the island of Samos. Long time ago, don't you think? Pythais (mother) and Mnesarchus (father) were his parents. Pythagoras was disgusted by the ruler of his native country so he traveled around Egypt a lot, but lived in Cretona where he had goals for philosophical, political and religious advancements. He started a movement which included having a group of followers who called themselves the Pythagoreans after their leader. To become a member of the Pythagoreans was really hard-you had to be silent for five years during the meetings before giving your opinions to the group. The Pythagoreans also had to wear a secret symbol (a pentagon) on the palms of their hands so that they knew who were members and could attend the secret meetings.The Pythagoreans spent a lot of studying and playing music in secret.
    Pythagoras studied math, music and astronomy. Pythagoras is mostly famous for his theory in geometry about a2+b2=c2. Although the Babylonians had made the discovery 1000 years before, Pythagoras was the one who confirmed it. Pythagoras also was one of the first to believe that the earth was one of many planets that revolved around the sun and his discovery of the music scale concept helped him in his research of astronomy and mathematics. Pythagoras made the music scale by recognizing a simple formula as to how the music scale sounded. He took half of every note before a note and just kept adding half to the note after it.
      He discovered the musical scale when he was walking by a blacksmith shop and noticed that the hammers made different sounds. When he asked he was informed that one hammer was exactly ½ the weight of the other hammer and another was 1/4 the weight the original hammer. Then he thought that maybe all pleasant sound is harmonious due to its mathematical relationship.
      The scales that we grown used to are the result of Pythagoras’ discovery. The notes that are used today were made when it took 8 keys for the first note that was used to come back to the first note that was played. This is why it is called an octave. You are on the same note but at a different tune.
      The scales that we have grown used to are the result of Pythagoras' discovery. The notes that are used today have 8 keys between the first note and the same note at a higher pitch, called an octave. There are a lot of "in between" notes, or the black keys. The musical scale developed when people tried to "tweak" it and make it sound perfect but failed so they "tweaked" all the rest of the notes to make the scale we have today. What we are used to is basically the perfect mistake.

Galileo Galilei

Who is Galileo Galilei? Galileo was a mathematician, an Italian physicist, an astronomer and a philosopher. He was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. He was the first of seven children. Galileo’s parents were Vicenzo Galilei and Gulia Vincenzo. He was a teacher of music and a great flute player. He also studied music in Venice where he carried out experiments on strings to support his musical theories. Galileo was known for the big discovery of the pendulum. He discovered simple harmonic motionwhen he was sitting in church watching the lamps swing. He was probably a little bored. He used his pulse to measure the lamps' swinging back and forth motion. The pendulum later was used to measure time. There is a joke saying it was remarkable that his pulse was so even, why wasn’t he excited?

~Resources~	Pythagora's and Galileo's Roles in Music	Kaska Mariah Ember
	Pythagoras Pythagoras was born between 580-572 BC and died between 500-490 BC on the island of Samos. Long time ago, don't you think? Pythais (mother) and Mnesarchus (father) were his parents. Pythagoras was disgusted by the ruler of his native country so he traveled around Egypt a lot, but lived in Cretona where he had goals for philosophical, political and religious advancements. He started a movement which included having a group of followers who called themselves the Pythagoreans after their leader. To become a member of the Pythagoreans was really hard-you had to be silent for five years during the meetings before giving your opinions to the group. The Pythagoreans also had to wear a secret symbol (a pentagon) on the palms of their hands so that they knew who were members and could attend the secret meetings.The Pythagoreans spent a lot of studying and playing music in secret. Pythagoras studied math, music and astronomy. Pythagoras is mostly famous for his theory in geometry about a2+b2=c2. Although the Babylonians had made the discovery 1000 years before, Pythagoras was the one who confirmed it. Pythagoras also was one of the first to believe that the earth was one of many planets that revolved around the sun and his discovery of the music scale concept helped him in his research of astronomy and mathematics. Pythagoras made the music scale by recognizing a simple formula as to how the music scale sounded. He took half of every note before a note and just kept adding half to the note after it. He discovered the musical scale when he was walking by a blacksmith shop and noticed that the hammers made different sounds. When he asked he was informed that one hammer was exactly ½ the weight of the other hammer and another was 1/4 the weight the original hammer. Then he thought that maybe all pleasant sound is harmonious due to its mathematical relationship. The scales that we grown used to are the result of Pythagoras’ discovery. The notes that are used today were made when it took 8 keys for the first note that was used to come back to the first note that was played. This is why it is called an octave. You are on the same note but at a different tune. The scales that we have grown used to are the result of Pythagoras' discovery. The notes that are used today have 8 keys between the first note and the same note at a higher pitch, called an octave. There are a lot of "in between" notes, or the black keys. The musical scale developed when people tried to "tweak" it and make it sound perfect but failed so they "tweaked" all the rest of the notes to make the scale we have today. What we are used to is basically the perfect mistake. *Galileo Galilei* Who is Galileo Galilei? Galileo was a mathematician, an Italian physicist, an astronomer and a philosopher. He was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. He was the first of seven children. Galileo’s parents were Vicenzo Galilei and Gulia Vincenzo. He was a teacher of music and a great flute player. He also studied music in Venice where he carried out experiments on strings to support his musical theories. Galileo was known for the big discovery of the pendulum. He discovered simple harmonic motionwhen he was sitting in church watching the lamps swing. He was probably a little bored. He used his pulse to measure the lamps' swinging back and forth motion. The pendulum later was used to measure time. There is a joke saying it was remarkable that his pulse was so even, why wasn’t he excited?


	“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.” --Pythagoras