YouTube for math/music geeks!

[HDSarah]

I have finally created my first YouTube video, just in time for Pi Day (3/14).
I'm sorry to say that it's solo hammered dulcimer; no whistle. It really benefits from having some harmony notes, and I can't do that on whistle.

Here's the story: last year, I thought it would be fun to have a pi tune for my annual Pi Day party. I decided to turn the decimal expansion of pi (well, the first few digits) into a waltz in G major. I used the digits to give the notes in the scale: 1 = G, 2 = A, etc, with 8 = G an octave up, 9 = octave A, and 0 = octave B. To make it sound musical, I applied rhythm, phrasing, and added some chordal embellishment.

See what you think of it, and please pass on the link to any friends to whom it may appeal. I posted it last night, and it doesn't show up when I search YouTube on either the title (Pi 111) or any of the keywords I listed, so no one will be able to find it without the actual link.

Pi 111
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wxp0x2JoXo

[MTGuru]

Excellent!

[Denny]

most

[dubhlinn]

Bravo....seriously impressed...both with the tune and the idea.


Slan,
D.

[Nanohedron]

Nice. Nicenicenice.

[emmline]

Very interesting, and pretty too...but a little hard to hum along.
Reminds me somewhat of a piece of "music" which was composed...no...developed maybe, for the Millennium Dome project in London in 2000. There was an exhibit area which was more or less an indoor cave, called "Rest." Inside, you sat in soothing, dimly lit silence while occasionally a juggler came through with glow in the dark balls, and this synthesized series of tones, which was programmed to never repeat for...I think 1000 years (maybe)...played gently.

[mutepointe]

very intriging. i was hoping this would open a wormhole or something.

[HDSarah]

...but a little hard to hum along.

I agree. Memorizing the thing was the hardest part, because there is no musical logic to the melody. Also, I needed to memorize the melody PERFECTLY and not deviate from it, which is counter to the norm in the types of music I usually play. (I'm a folkie -- we believe in personal interpretation of a song or tune. ) You wouldn't think 111 notes in a row would be that hard, but it was the most difficult to memorize tune I've attempted. After a zillion repetitions, though, it grew on me, and now I hum it easily. A side benefit (?) is that I can recite the first 111 digits of pi now, but only when picturing my dulcimer (or, better yet, playing it).

Also: I found a different take on the idea of translating digits of pi into music. It's a violin piece using 220 digits of pi, but translated into a chromatic scale instead of the diatonic scale I used. If you go to the "Pi 111" YouTube page, the violin piece is posted as a video response to mine now.

Thanks for the kind comments, folks!