Music of the Spheres:Lecture-Concert.

This is an English translation of an article published in Nikkan San on December 5, 2019, as a part of my column, “The Way of the Pianist.

Have you ever heard of a concept called “Music of the Spheres,” a.k.a. ”Harmony of the Spheres”？

             In ancient Greece, they thought that everything that moves generates sound. Planets move, so they must be creating a harmony! They thought that since this would be a constant sound from the moment of our birth to death, it would be imperceptible to us. This would be the ultimate music, they thought. And all good music, or good movements, are in resonance with this music of the spheres.

              Pythagoras is credited with the genesis of this notion. The legend goes, one day he passed by blacksmiths at work. He realized that when the hammers used in striking the same metal were in clean ratio of integers in their mass, they create consonances. For example, a hammer a half a mass creates a pitch that is an octave higher than a hammer twice its mass, when striking the same object. The note A (440 Hz) to an octave higher A (880 Hz) is 1:2. A hammer two-third the size creates a pitch fifth higher, for example E. (2:3) A hammer three-forth sound a pitch forth higher, for example D. (3:4) Isn’t that mind-blowing!?

　 They considered math as the revelation of truth. They considered the universe to be math made visible, and music to be math made audible. To them, Music was number made audible, and it was men’s participation in the harmony of the universe. Music was important because participating in heavenly harmony leads to spiritual harmony.

And by the way, music of the spheres in Latin is musica universalis. I think it’s one of the roots to our phrase “music as a universal language.”

Even after Copernicus and Galileo Galilei proved that the actual “music of the spheres” in the 16th century, the notion persisted in the realm of aesthetics. Today, we are finding resonance to this beautiful concept in the latest findings in neuroscience and astrophysics.

Come find out more! On Saturday, December 14th, I will be giving a lecture-concert on this topic at the Little Tokyo Library with an upright that’s been donated there recently. I will do a lecture in English, and the same lecture in Japanese immediately after. If you are student of either languages, stay for both!

When: Saturday, December 14th. 11:00~11:45 (English), 12:00~12:45 (Japanese)

Where: Los Angeles Public Library Little Tokyo Branch. 203 S. Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Admission: Free.