In secondary school I was told by one of my teachers that before her higher maths exam she listened to Mozart because someone once told her that his music has hidden mathematical notation and apparently subconsciously unlocks mathematical parts of your brain. She ended up getting a great grade for maths and swears this was the reason why! I am unsure whether she was better at maths than she thought or if the music really did make a difference. However, when revising for my maths exam I of course had Mozart playing in the background. I am not sure whether Mozart is a mathematical genius or not but after sharing this story his track sales probably rocketed due to all the students giving it a try! The maths and music workshop we had reminded me of this and I decided to try and find out if there any evidence to support these claims and to my surprise there actually is!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/images/2006/10/17/mozart_maths_music_203_203x152.jpg

There is a term known as the ‘Mozart Effect’ which suggests listening to Mozart could induce a short term improvement on the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks known as spatial-temporal reasoning. People who possess this type of reasoning can visualise how things fit together and how they can be manipulated into different patterns. They also have good problem solving skills. In early 1992, researchers from the University of California, Irvine discovered that college students  exhibited better temporal reasoning skills on Math tests while a Mozart Piano Sonata was being played. This was a significant discovery, but it only lasted 10 minutes.

According to Mozart’s sister,  he “talked of nothing, thought of nothing but figures”, it is also recognised that he noted mathematical equations in the margins of some of his compositions such as Fantasia and Fugue in C Major. These equations did not directly link to the music but it shows that he had an attraction to mathematics. Some believe he may have composed his music using mathematical equations and it is said that Mozart may have divided his piano sonnets using the golden ration. Livio says that there is mathematical symmetry to Mozart’s music. Mozart even had a musical composition dice game which had performers roll the dice to decide which bar would be played.

The Magic Flute is said to have the number three included in many ways such as the three-note rhythm sequence. It is written in E flat major which is a key with three flats, many of the characters come in threes and it has a three part harmony.

Overall, it has not been proved that Mozart used mathematics in his music or whether it has any lasting affect on a persons mathematical ability. However, it has not been proved that it does not. Did I mention I also did well in my maths exam, coincidence?

Refs.
Sautoy, M (2013) http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/05/mozart-bach-music-numbers-codes
Hunt, P (2013) http://www.electrummagazine.com/2013/06/mozart-and-mathematics/
http://musicmathsystem.com/mozart-effect/