Speaker: Daniel Forger (UMich)

Location: CMSA building, 20 Garden Street, Room G10

Title: Math, Music and the Mind; Mathematical analysis of the performed Trio Sonatas of J. S. Bach

Abstract: I will describe a collaborative project with the University of Michigan Organ Department to perfectly digitize many performances of difficult organ works (the Trio Sonatas by J.S. Bach) by students and faculty at many skill levels. We use these digitizations, and direct representations of the score to ask how music should encoded in the mind. Our results challenge the modern mathematical theory of music encoding, e.g., based on orbifolds, and reveal surprising new mathematical patterns in Bach’s music. We also discover ways in which biophysical limits of neuronal computation may limit performance.