Harmony in numbers – Math through music

As part of the YouthSTEM club’s educational outreach program, Vivaana Yash led a workshop as part of a 5-part online music series aimed at teaching math concepts to elementary and middle school students in Charlotte and the surrounding areas. During this session, we explored the concepts of ratios and proportions by constructing musical scales alongside enthusiastic participants, marking the commencement of our engaging math-focused sessions.

Students were introduced to techniques using manipulatives like strings and rubber bands of various lengths to create different pitches corresponding to mathematical ratios. Each length represented a distinct frequency, with the ratios between these lengths mirroring the ratios between musical intervals. For instance, if one string was twice the length of another, it produced a note one octave lower. Similarly, a length 1.5 times greater produced a perfect fifth lower, and so forth. Through physically manipulating these strings or rubber bands, students could observe how altering the length affected the pitch of the resulting sound. They were encouraged to experiment with different ratios to construct diverse musical scales, including the major scale, minor scale, or pentatonic scale.

This hands-on exploration facilitated a deeper understanding of how ratios and proportions intertwine with musical intervals and scales. By engaging in such activities, students developed an intuitive comprehension of the relationships behind musical harmony. This approach not only made learning math concepts more accessible but also fostered creativity and appreciation for music within the students.