Creating Prelude Music Using Number Patterns - Abstract
Cheryl Whitelaw

Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science
Pages 342–342

Abstract

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a musical dice game, a creative minuet that uses dice to put measures in order. There were 11 possible forms for each measure, except measures 8 and 16 only had two choices. Two dice were tossed, and the sum minus 1 is the form used. On the 8th and 16th measures, Form 1 would be used if the sum is odd and Form 2 if the sum is even. Thus there are 11^14 • 2^2 ways this minuet could be played.

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