Is it mathematically possible to run out of music

Canada
December 17, 2006 4:25pm CST
I'd have to say the answer is no, but I'm not a mathematician. When you really think about it.... There are only 8 notes in a scale with varying 1/2 tones of sharps and flats. Of course, there are many octaves, but only so many notes within. You certainly have a finite number of chords within each scale. But then there is timing... There must be a gajillion ways ways that notes or chords can be strung together from a percussionary standpoint. Just using two notes and varying the staccato, timing, and sustaining, you could create two completely different (albeit simple), songs. Then you have crescendo or how loud and soft all the different notes can be played. Not to mention a variety of different instruments, each which can create it's own unique sound for each note. The bottom line is, I don't think we'll ever run out of new music. But something about that strikes me as strange. From a pure mathematical standpoint, it seems we should eventually. Extra credit: What role does music play in our evolutionary development? How did our minds come to discover, understand, create, and eventually come to appreciate such a seemingly useless endeavor (from a practical standpoint), such as music? What if any, survival benefit did our ancestors gain from music? If the answer is none, then why did we devolop a musical sense? Does music play a role in any other species?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@sunita64 (6469)
• India
27 Jan 07
If you start calculating combinations and permutations then the number is near to infinite, so we can never be short of music.
@habichuelo (3100)
• United States
20 Jan 07
no notes are equal to numbers,,we can mix them add them multiply them and devide them the combination is a melody and the combination with numbers are a result..this is my final answer and please think very deep in what i just explained to you here.
• India
18 Dec 06
no i dont think so.....but mathematically it may be possible