I was reading about my favorite irrational number today (phi) and I found out its coolest facet to date, which involves music!
http://goldennumber.net/music.htmThe peak of most songs is at the 'phi point'. Here's how it goes in plain terms: you divide phi by phi + 1, which is about .618. Take a song you like, find the length in seconds, multiply that by .618, then convert back to minutes and seconds
Now fast forward to that moment in the song. Except for very unconventional music, such as some experimental music, some black metal, maybe some doom metal,
the song usually either peaks or starts to peak thereabouts. It is a crazy accurate measure.Most 'conventional' songs I have don't veer from the estimate by more than about ten seconds. I didn't have many misses, and most of them were with avant-garde music, like Ulver, I didn't suspect would pass anyway. Here are some of the best examples I could find.
- Turisas - Battle Metal - 2:22, flute interlude leading up to epic battle speech, two seconds off of estimate
- Ad Hominem - Soldiers of Wotan - 3:40, the martial chant kicks in, only three seconds early
- Summoning - Land of the Dead - 7:59, drums join in with second epic chorus at four seconds after estimate. It's a longer song though, so there's more room for error
- Rhapsody - Rain of a Thousand Flames - 2:22, ridiculous keyboard solo, three seconds after estimate
- Amon Amarth - Annihilation of Hammerfest - 3:07, Hegg opens up the prayer to the Norse gods right after screaming "On the altar it lies, he lifts the hammer high, and before it he SWEEEEAAAAARRRRS" EXACTLY on time
- Sabaton - Primo Victoria - 2:33, guitar solo comes in three seconds earlier than estimate
- Burzum - Dunkelheit - 4:23, song comes to standstill for a moment and Varg begins to speak, only one second after estimate
- Elffor - The Lonely Mountain - 3:22, triumphant third 'horn' joins in, five seconds before estimate
- Stormwarrior - The Holy Cross - 4:32, one second after estimated peak of 4:31, when the song breaks down and does the scary ironic rendition of the Lord's Prayer
- Celesty - Reign of Elements - 2:51, brief guitar solo, two seconds early, leading up to really stupid dialogue
Try it on your favorite songs and see how it comes out. Songs with a strong classical influence (e.g., power metal) tend to pass best.
As an interesting benchmark, this performance of
Brandenburg Concerto no. 3: Allegro Moderato (BWV 1048) begins to peak one second after the estimate, at 3:26
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9qWpa2rIg(No it's not Rick Roll, I promise. However, it should be noted that the Rick Roll bridge conforms nicely to phi as well.)
