One-over-f power distribution

[John Watt]

Daniel Levetin, Music Professor at McGill University in Montreal, has arrived at a formula that he describes as a formula for life on earth. He's calling it the "one-over-f power distribution", after sampling over 2,000 classical compositions. He wrote a best-seller in the past, "This is Your Brain on Music".

It sounds easy. The main element occurs the most, the second most used element occurs second most, same with the third. According to his research, the flow of the Nile and our d.n.a. follow this formula.

What surprised him was not just notes, but rhythm, predicatable according to his calculations. And according to him, Beethoven has the strongest rhythmic component, with Mozart the weakest.

When I see names used like that I get suspicious, but here it is, the new news today about music, classical music, from Canada. Daniel Levetin was a hard-core, punk-rock guitarist before he settled into teaching and writing, to impart a little bio.

 

[teddy]

They don;t call it the rhythm of life for nothing John. Everything in this world has it to some extent

teddy

 

[John Watt]

Yeah! I never thought that rhythm of life thing.
The article didn't decribe the statistics or whatever data he used,
just talking about the 2,000 classical pieces he sampled.
I don't think of classical music as being hard core rhythmic,
so I was hoping to see more varieties.
Polyrhythmic music is more of a beat-breakdown for me,
seeing rhythm as having one, not necessarily layered.
Anything else is a contra-rhythm or off-beat accent, I think.

All this global warming weather, cool, no snow, is affecting my body rhythm.
I think I've got an early case of spring fever.

 

[teddy]

I used to get Saturday night fever, John. We had the cold and snow for you this year,

teddy

 

[John Watt]

I am North America based, so I might have a different idea of Saturday night fever,
and this isn't about the movie.
After the birth control pill came out, "swingers" and "free love" advocates arrived at a new dating protocol.
Girls would have a Friday night date to get out and have a good time, deciding on a partner,
and Saturday night usually brought the weekend to uh, fruition.
Now this is a very '60's, early '70's thing, and Saturday night fever took a while to hit the big screen,
but something tells me you have a more sophisticated perspective, teddy.

And yes, Europe seems to be getting socked in, seeing lots of ice damage on the Danube this last few days.
That might be a good thing, the sadness about losing some of the more popular floating nightclubs,
a new blues for the Danube.