Klarinet Archive - Posting 000050.txt from 2012/02

From: "Daniel Leeson" <leesondaniel899@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] IBM 1620
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:16:50 -0500

At one time, I gave a presentation at 7
Universities on the subject of Mozart and
Mathematics. And in the talk I expressed an
opinion as to what characteristic was in both
music and mathematics that enabled one person to
work well in both fields, though there were lots
of very good mathematicians who could not do
music, and vice versa.

I concluded that the most likely characteristic
that both musicians and mathematicians exploited
was in the matter of rhythm. And I even showed
how Mozart's music was influenced by his
mathematical bent, even though he never went to
school to learn something about the subject.

In one work, he even used 7/8 time and calculated
very carefully so that the 7/8 time of the solist,
and the 4/4 time of the orchestra would work out
together. Not a mean feat for a man who only
understood arithmetic.

On the other hand, Einstein played violin, but
once, in a string quartet of some very fine
players, they stopped because he was making so
many meteric errors. And one of the players
(Isaac Stern) seriously asked him if he could
count.

Dan Leeson
email: dnleeson@-----.net
alternate email: leesondaniel899@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Roberts [mailto:timr@-----.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 9:11 AM
To: klarinet@-----.com
Subject: Re: [kl] IBM 1620

Fred <vze2bsbs@-----.net> wrote:

> Wow! That is cool and way before my time. Say-
does it seem that
> all programmers are also clarinet players? Or
vica-versa?

Perhaps surprisingly, there is a fairly strong
correlation between
engineering and music. There are 6 programmers in
our community band,
which is 10% of the population. I have tried not
to waste time on
regrets, but if I have any regret in my life, it
is that I did not try
for a career as a pianist. On the other hand,
Bill Gates has been very,
very good to me. Had I gone with music, I would
probably not have the
nice house I have now. And I still have the
opportunity to do what I
love in accompanying and in community theater --
perhaps the best of
both worlds.

I've certainly chewed up miles of paper tape and
cases of punched cards
in my time. During the 1980s, I was one of the
top Fortran programmers
at Control Data, a company that built its
reputation on having the
fastest Fortran in the world. The computing world
was different then.
Computers were MAGICAL, and we who knew how to
wrangle them were
wizards. Today, they're just another tool. The
magic is gone.

--
Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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