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Nicholas,<br>
On a slightely different note. There is some overlap between musical
ability and math. A quick couple of references:<br>
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<td class="heading">Title</td>
<td class="text">Inter-domain transfer between mathemetical
skills and musicianship.</td>
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<td class="heading">Abstract</td>
<td class="text">Investigated the nature of transfer of problem
solving skills between 2
domains which are very dissimilar at a surface level but which overlap
at a deep structural level in specific areas. The domains are formal
musical skill and mathematics. This study examined specifically whether
this transfer occurs without explicit instruction to facilitate
transfer. Structural Learning Theory provided a frame of reference for
the study of the deep structural similarities between music and math.
85 public secondary school students (mean age 15.5 yrs) enrolled in an
extension math course completed a mathematics test in their regular
classroom. One wk later Ss completed the Musicianship Rating Scale to
measure trained musical knowledge. The results indicate that in the
domains of mathematics and music, students who had training in
musicianship performed better than students with no musical training in
mathematical areas of structural overlap. However, they did not perform
better in areas without overlap. The author concludes that transfer
occurs as a result of deep-structural similarity of domains and that
this transfer can occur spontaneously without explicit instruction
designed to facilitate transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004
APA, all rights reserved)</td>
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<td class="heading">Authors</td>
<td class="text">Bahr, Nan; Christensen, Carol A.</td>
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<td class="heading">Affiliations</td>
<td class="text">Bahr, Nan: U Queensland, Graduate School of
Education, QLD, Australia</td>
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<td class="heading">Source</td>
<td class="text">Journal of Structural Learning & Intelligent
Systems. 14(3), 2000, 187-197.</td>
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<br>
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<td class="heading">Title</td>
<td class="text">Music as embodied mathematics: A study of
mutually informaing affinity.</td>
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<td class="heading">Abstract</td>
<td class="text">The argument examined in this paper is that
music - when approached
through making and responding to coherent musical structures,
facilitated by multiple, intuitively accessible representations - can
become a learning context in which basic mathematical ideas can be
elicited and perceived as relevant and important. Students' inquiry
into the bases for their perceptions of musical coherence provides a
path into the mathematics of ratio, proportion, fractions, and common
multiples. In a similar manner, we conjecture that other topics in
mathematics - patterns of change, transformations and invariants -
might also expose, illuminate and account for more general organizing
structures in music. Drawing on experience with 11-12 year old students
working in a software music/math environment, we illustrate the role of
multiple representations, multi-media, and the use of multiple sensory
modalities in eliciting and developing students' initially implicit
knowledge of music and its inherent mathematics. (PsycINFO Database
Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)</td>
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<td class="heading">Authors</td>
<td class="text">Bamberger, Jeanne; Disessa, Andrea</td>
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<td class="heading">Affiliations</td>
<td class="text">Bamberger, Jeanne: Music and Theater Arts,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, US<br>
Disessa, Andrea: University of California, Berkeley, CA, US</td>
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<td class="heading">Source</td>
<td class="text">International Journal of Computers for
Mathematical Learning. 8(2), 2003, 123-160.</td>
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