A ubiquitous drum solo of 5.20 seconds, 4 bars, The Amen Break, has been found to posses characteristics nearly identical to the Golden Ratio. Michael S. Schneider expounds on the Golden Proportion and the Amen Break and points out concepts such as the peaks of the Amen Break corresponding directly with Golden Ratio intervals, fractal structures, appearances of the Golden Ratio in worldwide music and by classical composers such as Mozart, Bartok and my favorite, Debussy.
Michael’s study of his subject is laudable and worth a thorough reading. I like how he summed things up:
Human bodies and created sounds, like flowers, crystals and galaxies, can never exactly equal any ideal mathematical template. But the major wave peaks of the Amen Break, and many of its smaller ones, seem reasonably close to being an expression of the fractal nature of the wonderful Golden Ratio. I wonder what it would sound like if it was more precisely proportioned to the ideal, but I also know that slight differences are what make it human and alive.
For more, read about The Golden Ratio in detail, watch a Golden Mean video, or review a brilliant survey of the Amen Break by Nate Harrison.
