According to the book A Geometry of Music, by Dmitri Tymoczko, in Contemporary Music Theory, it is believed that musicians take on a mathematical approach when creating progressions of chords in their music. Because of this mathematical approach, musicians construct music as opposed to composing it. In the construction of their music, musicians strive to create sound that is pleasing to their audience's ears. In order to reach this goal, musicians stray away from creating progressions of chords that are chaotic and random because these progressions create noise that is not pleasant to the ears. Musicians also tend to avoid progressions that are completely symmetrical because symmetrical progressions are boring and not appealing to the ear. When musicians construct their music, they strive to create progressions of chords that are almost-symmetrical. Because of these almost symmetrical progressions of chords, barriers between musical styles have fallen and Western music of the twentieth century in fact is related to the classical music of past centuries. The music of these different eras are related because they contain progressions of chords that create similar geometric patterns that are short and efficient. In this paper, we will explore the math that underlines Contemporary Music Theory. We will then use the theory to analyze two songs from different eras.
