Pi symphony was born in a Calculus I class in the early 1990's.
With my habit of making numbers into melodies, I decided to try the digits of pi. I was astonished to
discover the simple melody which does not sound at all random out to 32 digits.
At that time I did some more research and found that the digits of pi have only been
calculated out to several hundred digits for a couple of hundred years.
My goal then became to create a classic orchestration of this melody
which imparts the emotions associated with scientific discovery. Within a year or two,
I had finished the Pi Symphony, while studying Engineering/Physics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
I had several orchestral arrangements performed, but alas, never Pi.
I spent one entire summer editing and writing more on the score.
There are some .mp3 files of excerpts (below) from the synthesized rendition.
One goal of this site is to sell copies of my synthesized rendition, to hopefully
connect with an appropriate debut environment.
Pi Symphony Samples
Please use samples as a reference. If you want to talk about Pi Symphony please purchase a copy. Don't just download the sample. SHeesh! Note all the COOL people below who have REAL copies of my work and will be forever included in the master score.
This sample opens with pi rounded to 3.1416 on horn, followed
by the ensemble playing the same. Next a short fanfare digs
deeper into the digits. At 44: seconds, the flute plays pi
while all other instruments play snippets of the digital
sequence. At 1:36, the melody of 'e' is introduced
on the flutes At 1:45, The trupets play pi accompanied by
strings whose chordal structure is also dictated by the
digits.
This sample opens with a fast run through the circle of
fourths followed by a semi-dissonant pi.
At 1:00 into the sample, we begin harmonically around the
circle of fourths.
At 2:03 you hear pi on the horns.
Pi Symphony was performed TWICE in 2010! Here is a link to the images and audio from our adventure in Ruse, Bulgaria! Please purchase a copy of "Pi Symphony: The Ruse Performance", share this link with friends and help me tell the world about Pi Symphony.
Also, to help understand just how the melody of Pi Symphony relates to the digits of pi, here is a video we produced last year.
Contributors
Contributors Include:
Michael Round
Cedric Hartman
Tina Nichols
Jim and Mary Jenkins
Frank Fauble
Scott Liberty
Peter Buffett
Rick Renn
Jack Round
Anonymous ( $31.41 )
Ingrid Erickson
Daniel Wilkins
Judith Downey
John Konvalina
Jennifer Cook
Frank Stadler
Bahman Kalantari
C. Kelly Lohr
Wayne Hayes
Joel K. Haack
Ann McGill
Beth Novak
Patrick Michael McCarthy
(long lost friend rediscovered)