Pythagorean Philosophy and its influence on Musical Instrume
Pythagorean Philosophy and its influence on Musical Instrume"Music is the harmonization of opposites, the unification
of disparate things, and the conciliation of warring elements...
Music is the basis of agreement among things in nature and of the
best government in the universe. As a rule it assumes the guise
of harmony in the universe, of lawful government in a state, and
of a sensible way of life in the home. It brings together and
unites." - The Pythagoreans
Every school student will recognize his name as the
originator of that theorem which offers many cheerful facts about
the square on the hypotenuse. Many European philosophers will
call him the father of philosophy. Many scientists will call him
the father of science. To musicians, nonetheless, Pythagoras is
the father of music. According to Johnston, it was a much told
story that one day the young Pythagoras was passing a
blacksmith's shop and his ear was caught by the regular
intervals of sounds from the anvil. When he discovered that the
hammers were of different weights, it occured to him that the
intervals might be related to those weights. Pythagoras was
correct. Pythagorean philosophy maintained that all things are
numbers. Based on the belief that numbers were the building
blocks of everything, Pythagoras began linking numbers and music.
Revolutionizing music, Pythagoras' findings generated theorems
and standards for musical scales, relationships, instruments, and
creative formation. Musical scales became defined, and
taught. Instrument makers began a precision approach to device
construction. Composers developed new attitudes of composition
that encompassed a foundation of numeric value in addition to
melody. All three approaches were based on Pythagorean
philosophy. Thus, Pythagoras' relationship between numbers and
music had a profound influence on future musical education,
instrumentation, and composition.
The intrinsic discovery made by Pythagoras was the potential
order to the chaos of music. Pythagoras began subdividing
different intervals and pitches into distinct notes.
Mathematically he divided intervals into wholes, thirds, and
halves. "Four distinct musical ratios were discovered: the tone,
its fourth, its fifth, and its octave." (Johnston, 1989). From
these ratios the Pythagorean scale was introduced. This scale
revolutionized music. Pythagorean relationships of ratios held
true for any initial pitch. This discovery, in turn, reformed
musical education. "With the standardization of music, musical
creativity could be recorded, taught, and reproduced." (Rowell,
1983). Modern day finger exercises, such as the Hanons, are
neither based on melody or creativity. They are simply based on
the Pythagorean scale, and are executed from various initial
pitches. Creating a foundation for musical representation, works
became recordable. From the Pythagorean scale and simple
mathematical calculations, different scales or modes were
developed. "The Dorian, Lydian, Locrian, and Ecclesiastical
modes were all developed from the foundation of Pythagoras."
(Johnston, 1989). "The basic foundations...
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