Is Music Academic?

Historically, music has been distinguished from academics as a niche activity mostly for recreational enjoyment. But is it actually that far away from academics? Does pursuing music allow for advantages that can aid your academic or “more practical” endeavors?

Music has a relation to most, if not all, subject areas. The first thing that comes to mind is math: all notes and songs are made up of patterns of numbers and keys. By tapping my feet and getting a sense of time, tempo, rhythm, and melody, I also learned to understand how math manifests itself in patterns through combinations of sixteenth notes in abnormal time signatures like 13/8 or 11/4. Upon further research into mathematics, I realized that many phenomena in math can be expressed in terms of music. For example, Fibonacci sequences are naturally occurring in the real world. Any chord is always made up of the 3rd, 5th, and 8th(root) note of the scale, which follows the Fibonacci sequence(1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13). The 8th note in a scale is also considered the 13th note in the octave starting from the first note in the chord, and when you divide 13 by 8, you get the golden ratio(~1.618). Although chords pose a basic example of applied mathematics, many other topics related to math or physics are derived from music like intonation or audio, frequency, and decibels.

Identifying patterns of distinct sounds and riffs has allowed me to realize patterns in other areas of my life. In English, a passage analysis requires deriving patterns from the text through words or syntax to determine the text’s implications and thematic statements; the same goes for music. In jazz, improvising requires being able to play similar patterns of notes and scales in 12 keys. When put together, the techniques and patterns create a solo, a message, or a story. In addition, like literary texts, music is a plot. Most pop songs follow progressions of verses and choruses, and the song’s climax is the bridge. In classical music, there are a variety of pieces that consist of many movements like concertos, sonatas, and symphonies that all evoke different emotions. Many skills from music carry over to literary analysis, so much so that I could analyze a musical piece similarly to how I analyze a novel.

Music is also a large aspect of history. History can be interpreted as analyzing many different factors in a society to create a better understanding of societal values and norms. Analyzing music’s influence in a given society therefore can allow us to better understand ancient and more contemporary societies with a different lens. In America during slavery and segregation, analyzing the role of jazz in the Deep South can give answers to how African Americans handled marginalization and found ways to rebel against the political and social constructs that limited their rights. 

Although I know that music cannot be the main focus of a math class, many aspects of music related to any given subject can be rooted in a class’s curriculum, which can lead to a greater appreciation of music and a greater understanding of the material with musical applications.