Mapping Music That Sounds Good

I found this really interesting theory to map music while searching on Google. Tymoczko, a composer taking up residence at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, found a way to map music that sounds pleasing to the human brain. The actual element of music that makes it enjoyable has remained a mystery, despite resources such as sheet music. Tymoczko used non-Euclidian geometry to create an object called an orbifold. Shown in the picture below, this complex mathematical figure allows Tymoczko to map chords that sound pleasing to the human ear. Chords that sound good are mapped inside the orbifold, while those that do not are placed farther away.

Tymoczko hopes that his invention will be used to help schoolchildren better understand music. He also envisions developing computer programs that can analyze and compose music that sounds good, as well as creating instruments which make it easier to play music that sounds good. Heres an example of E-minor mapped using this technique:

I feel this is a pretty significant breakthrough. Since the creation of music, no one has known exactly why certain notes and chords are appealing while others are annoying and painful. It will be interesting to see how this discovery is going to be used, whether to create music that is tailored to use chords that all sound good or to even create new instruments as Tymoczko suggests.

Source: http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/01/mapping-music.html