Physics of Music

I just wrote an exam yesterday for a course called the Physics of Music. For me, the class was pretty easy, but that wasn't the point. It was actually really interesting. While writing the exam, I came across a question about nature, music, and chaos and it really got me thinking.

The theory is that good music has to have an element of surprise in it to keep us interested. A song could have all the nice chords and a catchy tune, but if it gets too predictable, we won't be interested. However, some music seems completely random and has no semblance of structure to it. For many people, that music is no good either. It has to have enough surprise to be unpredictable, but not to the point that it's predicably so.

There is a mathematical formula based on two variables that is used in chaos theory. One of the variables (say x) is the starting point for a series and has to be between 0 and 1. The other (y) determines the variability of the series and can be any positive value. If this determining variable is between 0 and 3.57, the series starts off at x and quickly finds up to four different values that it fluctuates between. If y is 4 or larger, the series starts at x and takes off to infinity. Between 3.57 and 4, however, the series has a seemingly random flow to it. Never repeating and always surprising. And the great thing is that if x varies even slightly, the series changes dramatically.

Here's my point: humans like us seem to take pleasure in surprise. We like movies with twists, we like getting presents that we don't know about, and the like. If life is too predictable, we get bored. At the same time, if there is too much surprise, we can't handle it. Stress levels go through the roof and bad things start to happen. Therefore, in the interests of having an interesting life that we can handle, it's imperative for the determining value in the universe's chaos equation to remain between 3.57 and 4. Otherwise we'd lead either really boring or really out-of-control lives.

The only way left to disrupt such a delicate balance would be to change the initial conditions. As far back as intiquity, people have recognized that there is an underlying 'natural' law that applies to everyone. In Christian circles, this would apply to living within the will of God (love the Lord & your neighbour). As long as we stay within those parameters, everything will be fine. But step out and suddenly everything takes off out of control to infinity.

Now, it would seem that God wants us to have the pleasure that comes from manageable surprise, because as far as physicists and mathematicians can tell, the whole universe has this property of manageable chaos. So we can take comfort in the fact that as long as we keep our initial conditions within the parameters God has set for us, God is in control of the variability constant and won't let our lives spiral into boredom or blow our minds with complete unpredictability.

So now that I've written this, I'm not sure if it makes sense, but I like the idea of chaos in music anyway and I still like the odd surprise, too.