The Foo Fighters play a stadium concert in Geelong TONIGHT. This is the first stadium concert in Australia in 2 years!!!!! Dave Grohl, the FF’s guitarist, is a legend. He played drums for Nirvana and is considered by many to be the best drummer in the world. Meanwhile, Taylor Hawkins, the drummer for the Foo Fighters, is also considered one of the best rock drummers ever.
In honour of this auspicious occasion and to work out what might be going on inside these rock legends’ heads, I’m reposting (below) the math article about drummers’ brains.
In a 2011 article in the New Yorker Burkhard Bilger wrote about neuroscientist David Eagleman and his research into time and the brain especially drummers’ brains.
Some of the drummers he has interviewed and/or tested include William Champion of Cold Play, Brian Eno of Roxy Music and Larry Mullen, Jnr of U2.
Eno, on keyboards (above) who was working on a U2 album, talks about Mullen’s amazing timing. They were using a click-track (computer generated beat) when mMullen complained he couldn’t drum to it. ENO adjusted the beat. Mullen was happy.
Here are some drum beats provided by Justin Alan Cox so you can get your timing right:
60 bpm
80 bpm
100 bpm
120 bpm
Drummer Maths:
How Cool a Drummer are you?
Pick a beat and see how accurate you can beat tempo. Time how long it takes you to beat out 60, 80, 100 or 120 drum beats using a pencil. It should, obviously, take one minute if you are an ENO or a Mullens.
What was the difference in time in seconds?
But drummers like Eno, Grohl and Hawkins have other problems!!!!!
Bilger’s conclusion:
‘Like perfect pitch, which dooms the possessor to hear every false note and flat car horn, perfect timing may just makes a drummer more sensitive to the world’s arrhythmias and repeated patterns, Eagleman said—to the flicker of computer screens and fluorescent lights. Reality, stripped of an extra beat in which the brain orchestrates its signals, isn’t necessarily a livelier place. It’s just filled with badly dubbed television shows.’
The NHS reports that Australian Researchers Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh, Uni of NSW, have conducted a study into brain and neck injuries of headbangers published in the British Medical Journal.
Concerts included as part of the study included Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, The Hell City Glamours, L.A. Guns, Ozzy Osbourne, Winger, Ratt, Whitesnake, and W.A.S.P.
Here’s Motorhead with a ‘nice’ moshpit.
140 BPM for Ace of Spades. Motorhead BPM range is 91 – 203
The Headbanger Study Concluded:
1. Head movement of more than 75o for an average heavy metal beat will cause head and neck injuries. This movement causes headache and dizziness.
2. Beats above 130 bpm (beats per minute) cause neck injury.
The average headbanging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute (bpm).
and according to Mathspig:
3. Being punched up in the mosh pit. Do you need maths for that conclusion?
Researchers recommendations:
1. Reduce range of head and neck movement
2. Headbang to a slower tempo
3. Wear a neck brace. (Isn’t a bad hair cut enough?)
Headbanger Rates Exercise:
How many headbeats per song of 5mins would a headbanger manage for the following song tempos?
Mathspigs excited. Look there is a band called Mutemath!!!!!!!! And here they are:
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Just to show that there is something spookily primitive about headbanging here is Headbanger Baby:
In a 2011 article in the New Yorker Burkhard Bilger wrote about neuroscientist David Eagleman and his research into time and the brain especially drummers’ brains.
Some of the drummers he has interviewed and/or tested include William Champion of Cold Play, Brian Eno of Roxy Music and Larry Mullen, Jnr of U2.
Eno, on keyboards (above) who was working on a U2 album, talks about Mullen’s amazing timing. They were using a click-track (computer generated beat) when mMullen complained he couldn’t drum to it. ENO adjusted the beat. Mullen was happy.
Here are some drum beats provided by Justin Alan Cox so you can get your timing right:
60 bpm
80 bpm
100 bpm
120 bpm
Drummer Maths:
How Cool a Drummer are you?
Pick a beat and see how accurate you can beat tempo. Time how long it takes you to beat out 60, 80, 100 or 120 drum beats using a pencil. It should, obviously, take one minute if you are an ENO or a Mullens.
What was the difference in time in seconds?
Calculate your % error = time error (sec)/(60 sec) x 100
Bilger’s conclusion:
‘Like perfect pitch, which dooms the possessor to hear every false note and flat car horn, perfect timing may just make a drummer more sensitive to the world’s arrhythmias and repeated patterns, Eagleman said—to the flicker of computer screens and fluorescent lights. Reality, stripped of an extra beat in which the brain orchestrates its signals, isn’t necessarily a livelier place. It’s just filled with badly dubbed television shows.’
The NHS reports that Australian Researchers Declan Patton and Andrew McIntosh, Uni of NSW, have conducted a study into brain and neck injuries of headbangers published in British Medical Journal.
Concerts included as part of the study included Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, The Hell City Glamours, L.A. Guns, Ozzy Osbourne, Winger, Ratt, Whitesnake and W.A.S.P.
Here’s Motorhead with a ‘nice’ moshpit.
…………………………………………………………………..
The Headbanger Study Concluded:
1. Head movement of more than 75o for an average heavy metal beat will cause head and neck injuries. This movement causes headache and dizziness.
2. Beats above 130 bpm (beats per minute) cause neck injury.
The average headbanging song has a tempo of about 146 beats per minute (bpm).
and according to Mathspig:
3. Being punched up in the mosh pit. Do you need maths for that conclusion?
Researchers recommendations:
1. Reduce range of head and neck movement
2. Headbang to a slower tempo
3. Wear a neck brace. (Isn’t a bad hair cut enough?)
Headbanger Rates Exercise:
How many headbeats per hour would a headbanger manage for the following song tempos. Here are just a few tempos form Play Drums Now blog:
……………………………………………………………………….
Mathspigs excited .Look there is a band called Mutemath!!!!!!!! And here they are:
……………………………………………………………………………
Just to show that there is something spookily primitive about headbanging here is Headbanger Baby:
Can your math class make a musical maths video. Some of these are awesome. Firstly, if middle school math students see senior maths students having fun they will want to do it. This is called PR.
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And, secondly, it seems that the countries with the best global school maths results are also the countries doing maths musicals. Think about that!
Here is the band called AMERICA AFTER MATH. It is in the genre known as Math Rock (More to do with the beat):
Math Rock Challenge:
There are lots of rock groups with maths-linked names. So make up a Mathsy Group name like
Pythagoras and the sum of the squares
and go for it. Make a video. Make maths fun. Here are some inspiring you tube clips.
1
Maths Parody Rock Group: 2Ge+her (2GETHER) – U + Me = Us
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2
Maths Class the Musical Rocks
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3
Algebra Song (I’m YOurs) A parody of Aussie singer Jason Mraz from the TV show Packed to the Rafters
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4
Mathematics Rhapsody: D’Champion 2011 (BNCHS Math Jingle) Give this one a few seconds to get going then enjoy this Queen Parody.
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5
Mathematicous: Awesome Maths Parody of Fergie’s Fergalicious:
To have something in the challenge for every member of the class not just maths whiz kids.
Timing:
Week 1
Introduction: Form teams in class time. Give them the Scavenger Hunt Sheets so they can devise their team name and war cry/anthem.
eg. QTπ, The Smart Asymptotes,The Quadratics,The Nerd Herd,Numerators, Number Nutters and The Vulgar FactionGive teams 1 week to gather or create scavenger items.
You will find a complete PDF file of The Great Maths Scavenger Hunt @ the end of the following post, plus a PDF file answer guide.
Week 2:
Students are to bring items to class.
All teams must perform their war cry/anthem. Other performance items should be presented.
Score:
Any calculations must be written down. All graphs should be hand drawn.
Teams should then tally their own scores.
Cross check with another team.
Prize:
The prize will be a dodgy trophy (see pic) that you buy at a Op shop/ secondhand shop.
Rebrand it.
Decorate with hideous ribbons.
And make a fuss. This is Parody Power and everyone is in on the joke.
Students must complete 2 challenges @ 1¼ points each: Minimum of 2, Maximum of 5
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2. So You Think You can Add!:
* How many round-cut 8 carat diamonds will cover top of an A4 sheet?
* How many human hairs would cover the back of your (Werewolf) hand including your fingers assuming 200 hairs per square cm or 1,290 hairs per square inch.
* A set of scales in Stone. How heavy is a stone?
* Measure the length of your kiss in cm or inches. Show picture.
* Bring a slide rule. Show how to calculate 100 x 10.
* A pair of 40 denier tights. What is a denier?
* A t-shirt with π on the front
* How many golf balls would go around the equator? Diameter of golf ball= 43 mm
* Picture of a human Pentagon
* Arithmetic Progression of Stamps worth: 5c, 10c, 15c, 20c, 25 c and 30c.
* Picture of you calculating the angle of a pair of high heels using a cardboard triangle.
* Write the mirror image of every number from 1 – 20.
* Freeze three types of triangle into a cube of ice each.
* Bring in 3 size 24 buttons. What is the diameter of a size 24 button?
* Car batteries are labelled 12V but are more likely 12.6 volts. Plot a graph of % charge remaining Vs Voltage (V). You’ll find info here.
* If you buy an $120,000 Boxter Porsche and it depreciates in value by 25% annually, how much will it be worth when it is 1, 2, 3 and 4 years old? More info here.
* In 2012 Usain Bolt had earned $20 million up until the Olympic Games mostly through endorsements. He ran a total of 400m (100 m, 200m and 4x100m relay). How much does the fastest man on earth earn per m and, more interestingly, per second? Why is the relay faster per leg than the 100m sprint?
* An old maths exam paper of a parent or grand parent or a school ruler with their name on it. (Must be old)
* How many large cracked eggs would it take to fill a 50-litre rubbish bin?
* What does 24 carat gold mean? Write 24, 18 and 12 carat gold in fractions.
* If Usain Bolt could keep up his 100m-sprint speed, how long would it take for him to finish the marathon? How long would it take him to get to school from your place? Include map showing your route to school.
* Draw a skateboard deck width Vs skater height graph. Info here.
Students must complete 2 challenges @ 2 ½ points each: Minimum of 2 challenges, Maximum of 4 challenges.
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3.The Great Maths Race
* Make a protractor Anemometer and calculate the current wind speed. Conversion Chart here.
* Bring a sextant
* The Brix number is used to measure sweetness. One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution. What would the Brix number be for orange juice, Gatorade and coke? You will need to know the sugar content in gm for each drink ( Look here) and the volume of a coke can or bottle.
* Make a poster using maths symbols going off at a tangent.
* Your growth chart for 10-year period.
* Width of the front of the school block in toilet paper sheets. You will find some handy measurements here.
* Bake a π pie
* Cook a Fibonacci cake
* Bring in a mock up poster (in waste paper) of all paper sizes from A8 to A0.
* How much do we spend per person each year on toilet paper? You will find information @ toilet paper fun facts. Yes! There is a Toilet Paper Fun Facts website. We use an average of 57 sheets each per year and, say, a toilet roll has 350 sheets. You will have to price the toilet rolls.
* Prove 1 + 1 = 2 in the most complicated way you can.
* Demonstrate Pythagoras Theorem using Saltine crackers.
* Develop a maths clap chant. Team must teach clap chant to class.
* Make potato stamps of the surds: √2, √3 and √5 and stamp an equation.
* Use bubble gum to demonstrate the parabola to the class of y = x2
* Make an Origami Pentagon from a square
* Make a (with clothes on) photo of yourself as Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
* Make Pascal’s Triangle using jellybeans or rice grains
* If your hair kept growing at the average rate of 0.04 cm per day, how long would it take to reach the same length/height as you? Show calculations.
* Make a poster of Bernoulli’s Triangle 20 lines long.
* The fastest remote controlled car on earth, so they say, is the Traxxas XO-1, which goes from 0-62mph ( 0 – 99 kph) in just 2.3 seconds and can hit 100mph (160 kph) in less than five seconds. How long would it take for the remote controlled car to travel to your nearest Macdonald’s and return with fries at 62 mph and 100mph? Print out a map.
* Research the height and weight of 10 famous ballerinas and plot these statistics on a height Vs weight chart. Is there a mathematical pattern?
* If a kangaroo can hop at 25 kph (15.5 mph), how long would it take to hop across the middle of Australia E to W?
Mathspig Blog 
