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The Music of Physics | StarTalk

2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Now it turns out there happens to be a guy out there who wrote an entire book on the connection between physics and music. An entire book. His name is Stefon Alexander, and he's standing by right now live on video call. You guys, you have him.

Oh, go! Hey, Stefan!

Hello!

Hey, Neil. What's up?

Hey, well, welcome to Star Talk!

Hey, good to be here!

So, you wrote a book, uh, The Jazz of Physics: Stefon Alexander, The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe. That's kind of— that's a—that's a—that's a title right there. But what I want to know is, is there something about physics that you can tell me so that henceforth I will always think of jazz when I encounter it?

I can give you one cool example, and it has to do with improvisation. Um, so what an improvisor has to do is spontaneously create something cool while the music is going on, while the chords are changing. Different jazz musicians have different strategies for doing that. And one thing I discovered is the idea of targeting notes.

So, for example, um, if I start off on a G and at some bars later I end up with a D. That's sort of the beginning point and the endpoint. And in between, um, targeting those two notes, meaning the endpoint note being the G, I can imagine playing many different paths, many different notes. And that's a very, you know, good analogy to Fan's conception of um, quantum mechanics.

Do you have the sax in arm's reach? Maybe you can play sort of a particle improvisation for us, just briefly?

Um, sure! I can try something. Hold on a second.

Okay, okay. I don't know if you can hear me.

All right, we're ready for you. Go!

What I got— Hey guys, I just got off the plane!

[Music]

So, I was— that nice! All right.

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