Cosmophonia

The Quadrivium

The idea that music and the cosmos are intrinsically connected has very deep roots in many human cultures. In Western cultures, one of the most long-lasting ways that this relationship manifest was in the Quadrivium. These four "number arts" were the ancestors of modern sciences and consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. Learning how number and numerical relationships worked across these disciplines allowed educated individuals to see the inherent order, or "harmony," of nature. It is no wonder that many great astronomers from antiquity to the 18th century, from Ptolemy to Kepler and beyond, wrote treatises on both music and astronomy. In this episode we discuss some of the implications of this education system both on scientific thinking during its time and on our modern education systems. 
 
References
Miranda Lundy et. al., Quadrivium: The Four Classical Liberal Arts of Number, Geometry, Music, & Cosmology
Orbital Resonance
Peter Pesic and Alex Volmar, "Pythagorean Longings"
Eugene Wigner, "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences"

Janelle Monáe’s ”Metropolis: The Chase Suite”

Musician and film star Janelle Monáe began her catapult to fame with her five suite and three album "Metropolis" series, which builds a wonderfully rich futuristic universe, chock full of references that situate it within the traditions of science fiction, Afrofuturism, and music of all genres. In this episode, we focus on the first iteration of this series, the 2007 E.P. "Metropolis: The Chase Suite." This E.P. introduces the main character and conflict of the story: Android Cindi Mayweather has transgressed the laws of her society by falling in love with a human, and now must face life on the run. This work provides inspiration for discussions about imaginations of the future, ethics of technology, the importance of the physical media of albums, and of course, robot love.
 
References
Janelle Monae, "Many Moons" Short Film
Sesame Street, Pinball Sequence
 
 

Moonlight Sonata

The gorgeous and strange first movement of Beethoven's piano sonata Op. 27 No. 2 is one of the most popular piano pieces of all time, but there are many secrets that lie below its placid surface. We discuss some of the ways that the piece evokes moonlight and nocturnal landscapes.
References
The recording we used was played by Malcolm Bilson from "The Complete Piano Sonatas Played on Historical Instruments"
Sarah Waltz, "In Defense of Moonlight"
Tom Beghin, "Beethoven's Mondschein Sonata"

Star Trek Themes Part 2

The anticipated second half of our Star Trek themes discussion! We get very excited about The Next Generation, and then get very opinionated about Enterprise and Discovery, while ultimately finding some redemptive qualities about them.

Star Trek Themes Part 1

What is a more iconic space art than Star Trek? As both Meredith and Gabe are Star Trek nerds, we thought it a fitting beginning to our frontier into this podcast series. While of course music is omnipresent in the franchise in underscoring and even musical-themed episodes, we focus for now on the theme songs, discussing how they are put together and what they reflect about the themes and ideas of The Original Series, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.