Numbers, Emotions, and the Architecture of TWO Songs
Numbers, Emotions, and the Architecture of a Song An experiment in using numbers to shape how music makes us feel By Tony Tuthill (KINNEAS) What if the emotional impact of a song could be influenced before the lyrics were even finished? Recently, I started experimenting with an interesting songwriting concept: using numbers, their associated attributes, and patterns of repetition to help construct the emotional journey of a song. The idea wasn't to make songwriting mathematical or remove the spontaneity of creativity. It was to explore whether numbers could provide another way of understanding how listeners experience tension, anticipation, familiarity, conflict, and resolution. I began looking at numbers as more than quantities. I treated them as creative building blocks, each with an emotional association that could influence the way a song develops. Then I put the theory to work on two very different songs. 1. The numbers and their emotional attributes The first step was estab...
