Composing Songs With Math Constants [I love PI].

In this post, I’m going to explore composing a song using pi to 11 decimal places.

3.14159265358

In my last post on math and music, I let numbers represent notes in a scale. This time I will use that mapping to choose the chords for the song.

In the key of C, the chords corresponding to these digits are: Em, C, F, C | G, Dm, Dm, Am | G, Em, G, C

Chord Number Map
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Em C F C | G Dm Dm Am | G Em G C
3  1 4 1   5 9  2  6    5 3  5 8
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The scale of C repeats itself at higher and lower frequencies. If 1-7 represent the unique notes/chords in a scale, anything above 7 is subtracted by 7 to figure out what note/chord it is. In this case we have the 9 which is really a 2 note/chord or D minor in this case.

I didn't mention this earlier but I'm using the 'm' after a letter to denote a minor chord where the 3rd (note two whole steps above the root in the chord) is flat or 1.5 steps from the root.

Here is a recording of these chords. In the recording, I held each chord for 2 beats and the last chord in the set for 8 beats with a small amount of embellishment.

Soundcloud link (the soundcloud embed didn't work)

There you have it. An instrumental song caled I Love Pi that is composed based on pi out to 11 decimal places.

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