The Fibonacci Sequence: The Mystery Behind Numbers and Music
You’ve probably heard of the Fibonacci sequence in math class at least once, for those unfamiliar with this spectacular set of numbers the Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers starting with the first whole integer in which all subsequent numbers are the sum of the two previous numbers. When calculating this you can either start with zero or one, the result will be the same. In the end, you will end up with a sequence of numbers starting like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,21 … that continues indefinitely. But what is so remarkable about a set of numbers? The answer is everything.
This particular set of numbers is unique in that numbers from this sequence are found repeatedly throughout nature, in pinecone spirals, flower petals, music, face proportions, the list goes on and on. Music is related to the Fibonacci sequence on a fundamental level. For example, a scale is comprised of 8 notes, and there is a total of 13 notes from one octave to the next. This musical and numerical phenomenon doesn’t end there, the golden ratio, harmonics, and many other aspects of music all related to this sequence of numbers.
Seeing as this set of numbers occur both in nature and man-made things, perhaps then music too, is not just an earthly language, but a universal one as well? Just how much of our world transcends that in which we have come to know and accept as reality? These are questions for which we do not have the answer, but speculation is the starting point of all great discovers and understanding. With this knowledge, it would certainly seem that music, the world we live in, and even our own bodies are, very likely, far more than they initially seem to be at a moments glance.