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Math and music form a duo in SPC class

The class for liberal arts students uses music, as well as other disciplines, to teach mathematics and encourage analytical thinking.

By MICHELE MILLER
Published June 4, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - The calls came in from all over.

Two missionaries wanted a violin for a 14-year-old prodigy in Argentina.

The sister of the Detroit Symphony's first-chair cello player wanted a cello hand-crafted from an old apple tree.

A woodcarver wanted advice on how make a violin out of a 2 by 4 for a contest.

But the most unusual request came from Valerie La France, an adjunct professor at St. Petersburg College in Tarpon Springs.

Like the others, La France had read in the St. Petersburg Times in July about how Morris Clement taught himself to make and play wooden stringed instruments, and she wanted something, too.

She wanted him to come help teach a math class.

"I told her there was no way I was qualified to do that," said Clement, 73, of Hudson.

"What do you mean?" she said. "You're doing the math all the time making these instruments."

The combination was perfect, La France said.

"Here was this musician - this fiddlemaker who was using math all the time and really wasn't aware of it," she said. "He could show students how he played and made his instruments, and I could explain the math."

So last week Clement and his banjo-playing friend, John Bowles, made their fourth appearance in La France's freshman-level math class.

They brought with them a cache of instruments Clement had made - a mandolin, a violin and a guitar - along with Bowles' banjo.

"This is the best class so far," said Matthew Blassi, 26, of Clearwater, who peppered Clement with questions about his musicmaking skills. "The application of mathematics and music is interesting ... and it's presented in a classroom, which is something you don't usually get."

"I can handle the music part," Clement told the students as he and La France demonstrated how to make a note one octave higher by using a bridge or a well-placed finger to shorten a string by half. "Just don't ask me about the math."

The class is geared toward liberal arts students and uses a project-based textbook called Math Is Everywhere by James J. Rutledge, 57, an associate professor at St. Petersburg College's Gibbs campus.

"This class is for the non-math/science students. Perhaps someone who hasn't been successful at math - or even was afraid ... had a math phobia," said Rutledge, who is also editor for Merlot Mathematics (http://taste.merlot.org/ portal/mathematics/, an online resource for math educators.

The class encourages students to see how the Renaissance painters used geometry - linear lines and horizons - in their work to create depth perception. They see how math figures into nature by studying the patterns of flowers, pine cones or drawing their own nautilus shell using simple rectangles.

There are no tests or quizzes. Instead, Rutledge said, there is a lot of practical content that promotes analytical thinking and shows how math figures into things such as art, architecture, finance and music.

But this isn't one of those dumbed-down classes, Rutledge insists. It's just a different way of teaching math.

"The class is meant to engage students," he said. "It gets them active. They're not just sitting there. It's hard to listen to math."

But perhaps, if they can see it ... .

The class encourages students to see how the Renaissance painters used geometry - linear lines and horizons - in their work to create depth perception. They see how math figures into nature by studying the patterns of flowers, pine cones or drawing their own nautilus shell using simple rectangles. They discover the concept of symmetry by seeing it in wallpaper, carpet and even shirt patterns.

And when it comes to music, they see how a mathematical formula dictates where to place the frets on a handmade guitar neck in order to play the right, pleasing note or how that note is caused by the guitar string's vibrations. To hear an "A," for instance, the string must vibrate at 440 cycles per second.

Requirements include oral presentations, projects and a stint teaching the class a lesson, said La France.

"These are things some of these students will encounter in their careers," she said. "A lot of them are going on to (careers in) teaching, and they will need these skills. It builds their confidence. They learn teaching methods and learning methods from their classmates. And there's public speaking, too."

And perhaps a little playing, too.

After a brief bluegrass concert, courtesy of Clement and Bowles, Kara Bertero, a student and violin player with a shy nature, gave Clement's violin a whirl.

"That was such a big step for her," said La France. "You have no idea."

"I can't believe I did that," said Bertero, 21, adding, "I really like this class. I've taken lots of math classes, and this is the best so far. It's refreshing to learn how math and music work together. It's a lot more interesting than just sitting and doing a page of math."

[Last modified June 4, 2006, 01:17:19]