The Impact of Music on Math Abilities

Daniel Beaudoin

Technology Integration

Rationale: Many people play instruments. Did you know that playing an

instrument can also improve your ability to do math and other cognitive skills as well? I am going to show that this is the case by utilizing the available technology online, including blog posts, websites, and videos.

Validity of Internet Content

Any information found online has been used based on the trustworthiness of the site. Thus, any information in the presentation can be shown by both the presenter and the viewers to be of high credibility.

All sites used and all images were found from a variety of internet sites. In order to attribute the information to the correct site, you can click on the images or the links for the respective sites and you will be immediately brought to the original source.

Instructional video

Internet videos can be useful as a teaching aid, especially if the content is both entertaining and educational. Click on either the link or the image to be taken to a video on how playing an instrument can improve your cognitive skills.

How playing an instrument can benefit your brain

Blog: Vis-math

Blogs can also be a helpful way to get students to learn about the interconnectivity of math and music. Self-proclaimed mathemusician Vi Hart, pictured here, has written a blog post comparing the Euclidean (two-dimensional) plane to the musical plane. You can click the following link to be taken to this article.

Vi Hart, Mathemusician

Podcasts

One additional way that students can learn about the interrelatedness of math and music is through podcasts. One such podcast is the following from Scientific American.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/rhythm-and-music-help-math-students-12-03-27/

Online newspapers

One way that you can find helpful information online is in online newspapers. The following is an article from the Vancouver Sun that talks about the connectivity of math and music. Viewers can click on the link below to be taken to the article.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Entertainment/interesting+connection+between+math+music/1473881/story.html

College studies

Another way that you can find information on my topic is looking at studies done by college professors. Jack H. David of Austin Community College in Texas did a study on “The Mathematics of Music” and his findings can be found by following the link below.

http://jackhdavid.thehouseofdavid.com/papers/math.html

Inspiration

Inspiration could be a very helpful tool to make illustrations and charts to assist in the classroom.

Khan Academy

One thing that is similar between math and music is the fact that both math and music look for patterns. Khanacademy.org is a very helpful site to both improve your students’ math skills as well as to look for patterns within your math.

Puzzlemaker

In addition to math and music being so closely linked there are certain music terms that have a basis in mathematics. Using the puzzle-maker on Discovery Education's website, you can make your own puzzles to help your students to learn any terms that you would like them to know.

Mathematics of Music

E C C D V T F U I M U E R A O R R K E M Q R U L G C T Q S C L O U E E L G I E M S O I P T V T T T Z R T T P R N N F A A L E M N A L O L C L H R U T V R O L O S N J G O N E E B M E O V H L E B G O W T Y T L R B I W D L W G D I J E S R W B U Z V O A J A R V S I J A K Q F B H Q U A R T E T E N U I L W W B Z V Y F K Y N Y M Q E H X V O X S N E F O Z K D I N H I H L M Z T B Y R R P S O T O J F R M A H Y S O F Q M C J Z C M W C I G J D W D N O G I F X

METER OCTAVE QUARTER NOTEQUARTET SOLO TIME SIGNATURETRIPLET WHOLE NOTE

Applications (Apps)

One app that would be very helpful to use to combine music and math would be the Google app “Music Composition.” This app allows the user to create music while utilizing meter and rhythm.

Teaching Aides

Scholastic is a very useful educational resource which offers lesson plans and reading material on a variety of topics. Among these topics is a movie that helps to show the interconnectivity between math and music.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/musical-math

Web 2.0

Although not usually popular in the classroom, some sites could be useful for putting together mathematics and music.

Students can practice together via Skype, both on their instruments and working together on homework, as well as talking to each other on Facebook