Hello all, The next MaPSS seminar will be held at 17:00 on Mon 30th in Carslaw 535. It’s a great opportunity to see an interesting talk, meet some fellow postgrads, and get some free pizza and soft drink. ************************************************************************************** Speaker: Jonathan Mui (The University of Sydney) Title: Symmetry in Musical Structures Abstract: It is often claimed that mathematics and music have a lot in common -- for example, both disciplines value the interplay between rigour and intuition, and both have their respective ideas on what is considered "beautiful". These are however quite philosophical comparisons, and it is perhaps less well-known how mathematical and musical structures interact in a concrete way. One such way is through symmetry. In this presentation, I give a mathematical introduction to the music of the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), who developed a method of composing with "twelve-tone rows" (Zwolftonreihen) that incorporates permutations and symmetry as a fundamental part of the musical language, i.e. not merely as an aesthetic consideration thrown onto a pre-existing framework. I will also talk more generally about how some simple mathematical objects -- mainly algebraic and geometric -- can provide interesting and perhaps profound insights into musical language, in particular to the theory of harmony. ************************************************************************************** See you there! Details can also be found on the school’s new Postgraduate Society website: http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/MaPS/mapss.html Cheers, Eric